Lacing tea with poison and slipping arsenic in to soup, this is what comes to mind we talk of murderesses of the Victorian age. Fuelled by a rumor-driven press and cases of notorious killers like Marry Ann Cotton, the ‘Angel of Death’, or Christiana Edmunds, the ‘Chocolate Cream Killer’, death by poisoning was a great anxiety of Victorian Britain.

But what about those women who were wrongly convicted? What about the suspects who fell victim of a biased jury and unrelenting press? In Misjudged Murderesses, Stephen Jakobi takes a forensic approach to examine the trials of six women falsely sentenced for crimes they didn’t commit. With the aid of primary sources, and in two cases the ready assistance of descendants and local journalists, the validity of their convictions is questioned. Highlighting common factors in poisoning cases that led to ostensible miscarriages of justice, Jakobi shines a light on a flawed and inconsistent legal system.