Out of the Forest

Back in 1910, the arrest and trial of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen for the grisly murder and dismemberment of his wife caused quite a sensation in Great Britain. It’s enduring infamy stems not only from the heinous nature of the crime, but also from Crippen’s failed attempt to avoid capture by fleeing across the Atlantic to America on an ocean liner, only to find Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Walter Dew waiting to arrest him when he got off the boat.

The case seems to have quickly seeped into the British consciousness. I have found casual references to the event in numerous British mysteries from the early 20^th century, most recently in Margery Allingham’s bizarre but compelling novel More Work for the Undertaker.

But no novel integrates the legend of Dr. Crippen more thoroughly into its plot than Peter Lovesey’s ingenious, award-winning 1982 novel The False Inspector Dew. Set a decade after the Crippen murders, the story details the affair between a dentist and his mistress, who together devise a complicated plot to murder his wife. Like Crippen, they flee to America on an ocean liner, and the dentist, realizing the similarity to the Crippen case, jokingly assumes the disguise of the famous Walter Dew. That decision leads to the first of many disquieting twists in this exceedingly twisty novel. I could easily recommend this novel for the plot alone, but there is a considerable amount of humor and satire that makes the story all the more exceptional. This is essential reading!