Book Review: Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff byMark Isaacs
Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
Mark Isaacs
I love digging into true crime and history, and Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff really did a great job of filling both itches, presenting a series of historical, violent deaths in the city I’ve always loved. Through this snapshot of the city’s history, you can also see how the city changes and grows over time, especially towards the end of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth.
I started reading this after getting home from the Cardiff Ghost Walk, being interested to see if there was any crossover. I’d had this book on my shelf for a while, and it really felt like good timing.
There are some really interesting images in this, showing parts of Cardiff as they once were and with some more modern images. The details given by Isaacs are informative, written in an engaging way without being too over the top for the topic at hand. For those many who are not familiar with Cardiff, like many cities there are different parts to it, not really suburbs, just outside the city centre. This book manages to cover the vast majority, from events right in what is now the city centre, to places slightly further out. Through it, you get this sense of the city growing and encompassing the surrounding areas, where farms and more isolated communities were absorbed by Cardiff as the population outstripped the space available.
Through these stories the history of the city is revealed, from the 1840s to the 1970s, the social history coming into play to put these people in the context of their time periods. Cardiff is a small city, one still growing, and this book shows that unfolding, and how even relatively small areas can have a dark and violent past.
Interestingly, the book also delves a bit into the formation of the police in Cardiff, from having just six police officers, some of whom were often suspended for drinking on the job, to growing and becoming a fairly large force in South Wales. This forms the introduction, and places many of the following ‘tales’ in context.
Overall, a good book, informative without being dry, entertaining while treating the stories with respect, one to pick up if you’re interested in this sort of mix between history and true crime, or check out one of the many other books in this series, covering the majority UK, from Bath to York, ensuring whatever part of the UK you’re interested in, there’s a book here to satisfy your historical true crime needs.
Grade: A
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
I own this paperback.