Chris Heal

Broschiertes Buch

The Four Marks Murders

Twenty grisly tales from a sleepy corner of Hampshire between the years 400 and 2020

Beschreibung

This book is about a large number of deliberate or untimely deaths in what was thought to be one of the quiet backwaters of Hampshire. In this true-life thriller, Chris Heal investigates twenty local murders beginning in Roman times, over half of them since 1900 and three within the last few years. They are all here: drug runners, people traffickers, robbers and smugglers; killers of animals, of babies, young children and the senile; those who planned revenge and sought the righting of wrongs; battle slaughter, corruption in the legal processes and mob rule. 'I don't hold a magic magnet for attracting this sort of information but you will understand that once you start asking, once you start looking, then people start talking. Odd facts jump out from unrelated pages and take new meanings. People brood for a month or two, then make contact. Collecting murders is like rolling a snowball.' In the conclusion, Heal asks why Four Marks is the murder capital of Southern England. Using careful research, the history of the village is revealed. From prehistoric times, Four Marks was an empty squeeze point on the road north. Formed in 1932, it lacked the heart of a medieval village. Its scrub wasteland was only lately filled by a population with far-flung roots. As well as exploding cherished myths, Heal uncovers a surprising secret that links local development to both a great political movement and one of the UK's largest corporations.

Autor

Most of the author's biography, including his many names, is explained within Disappearing. 'Heal' went to grammar school in the West Midlands, supporting himself through a window cleaning business and by digging ditches for Britain's new motorways. He was a leading rock climber and, later, a SCUBA diving instructor. He travelled extensively in his younger years, usually by hitchhiking, through much of Europe, North Africa and the Near and Middle East, reaching India. He briefly joined the RAF and then trained as an airline pilot. He quit and was off the radar for a year. He resurfaced as a journalist and then joined IBM for twenty years, five of them in Africa, and later led the multi-million pound buy-out of their UK marketing department. He was chairman of the regional theatre In Basingstoke, worked as an oak furniture designer and maker, and advised and funded internet start-ups and small businesses. He received a doctorate in history from Bristol University, aged sixty-five. Aspects of his thesis ¿ academically reviewed as 'first-rate, well-written with immensely impressive scholarship' ¿ were turned into a variety of publications with over 5,000 sales. In 2018, he wroteSound of Hunger, a well-received social history of the lives of two German brothers, u-boat captains in the First World War.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Chris Heal
• Seitenzahl: 332
• Erscheinungstermin: 8. Oktober 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 506g
• ISBN-13: 9781916194427
• ISBN-10: 1916194427
• Artikelnr.: 60407905