Story of a Murder Audiobook By Hallie Rubenhold cover art

Story of a Murder

The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen

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Story of a Murder

By: Hallie Rubenhold
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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*The International Bestseller*

This is the story of a murder, not a murderer . . .

In this epic examination of one of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century, bestselling author of The Five, Hallie Rubenhold, gives voice to those who were never properly heard—the women.

On February 1, 1910, the vivacious, diamond-adorned music hall performer Belle Elmore suddenly vanished from her home, causing alarm among her friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild. Their demands for an investigation would lead to the unearthing of a gruesome secret and trigger a fevered international manhunt for Belle’s husband, medical fraudster Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen.

Ethel Le Neve, Crippen’s typist and lover, who fled with Crippen in disguise, has always hidden in the shadows of this tale--was she really just "an innocent young girl" in thrall to a powerful older man? And was there an equally sinister story behind the death of Crippen’s first wife, Charlotte?

Brimming with twists and featuring a carnival cast of eccentric entertainers, star lawyers, zealous detectives, medics and liars, Story of a Murder offers an electrifying snapshot of Britain and America at the dawn of the modern era.

©2025 Hallie Rubenhold (P)2025 Penguin Audio Crime Historical Murder True Crime Women Marriage Exciting

Critic reviews

"Astonishing and deeply researched history... Story of a Murder entrances, speeding us along on journeys of female empowerment, complete with fascinating details of life as a woman living in the early 20th century, then delivers a murder mystery with all the thrill of a manhunt." —Wall Street Journal

"Thoroughly footnoted with a robust bibliography, Story of a Murder is another model of what literary “true” crime ought to be: a refreshing read appealing even to those who don’t care for “true” crime and a guide for any writer contemplating a project in vintage murder." —LA Daily Mirror

"Story of a Murder masterfully reinvestigates an infamous case in a thoroughly modern way, revealing the women behind the gruesome headlines and restoring dignity to Belle Elmore." —Bookpage

"The same tenor of insightful indignation that made The Five such gripping reading fills the pages of Story of a Murder and fleshes out not only Belle and Ethel but also the ladies of the Ladies' Guild, the intrepid female journalists of the time, and what little can be cobbled together about Crippen's first wife, Charlotte, whose death in 1892 struck plenty of people at the time as mighty odd."—Open Letters Review

“Painstaking research, married to a novelist's instinct for storytelling, make each new book by Hallie Rubenhold a gripping and educational adventure. Story of a Murder takes us beyond the infamous Dr Crippen to the lives impacted by him, the society in which he moved, and the public's appetite to be shocked and scandalized. Terrific.” —Ian Rankin, #1 New York Times and international bestselling author
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Thorough with insight into late 1800 early 1900 civilization, women’s issues, myotonic injustices, and the worm holes that writers of history can create!

Research, research, research

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wow was this an amazing book! I'd heard of Dr Crippen peripherally over the years but didn't really know the story. I'm so glad this book was my first real introduction to it! Smart, insightful and especially full of genuine interest and affection for her female subjects. We should all be so lucky as to have friends like Belle Elmore did. I may buy this book in a hard copy so I can read more on this by looking at the footnotes and annotations. Can't recommend this book highly enough!

loved it!

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Great but none of the heart of The Five. It was also longer than it needed to be. I wanted to love it as much as The Five but just didn’t.

Great but none of the heart of The Five

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I loved every moment of it. Until Rex Manning. I'm hung up there, so close to the important and well-earned end. Can't get past him.

Rex Manning?

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I really enjoyed the details and authenticity. It was also very interesting to learn about the way of life during that time period.

Attention to detail

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Hallie Rubenhold has done it again. As with The Five, she mines historical records to turn a supposedly well-known crime on its head.

Amazing research

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But really good point about not allowing the destroyers to tell their victim's stories. Look at how modern day American fascists are erasing the representation of black, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ, women's faces from the books, documents and culture of this once representative country.

A bit too verbose

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