Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel cover art

Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel

Britain's First Female Serial Killer

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Mary Ann Cotton - Dark Angel

By: Martin Connolly
Narrated by: Rosie Akerman
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About this listen

A female thief, with four husbands, a lover, and, reportedly, over 12 children, is arrested and tried for the murder of her stepson in 1872, turning the small village of West Auckland in County Durham upside down. Other bodies are exhumed, and when they are found to contain arsenic, she is suspected of their murder as well. The perpetrator, Mary Ann Cotton, was tried and found guilty and later hanged on 24 March 1873 in Durham Gaol. It is claimed she murdered over 20 people and was the first female serial killer in England.

With a blow by blow account of the trial, this book challenges the claim that Mary Ann Cotton was the "The West Auckland Borgia", a title given to her at the time. It sets out her life, trial, death, and the aftermath, and also questions the legal system used to convict her by looking at contemporary evidence from the time and offering another explanation for the deaths. The book also covers the lives of those left behind, including the daughter born to Mary Ann Cotton in Durham Gaol.

©2016 Martin Connolly (P)2020 Pen and Sword History Europe Great Britain Murder Social Sciences True Crime Violence in Society England

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All stars
Most relevant  
more factual then story. i overall liked it . very interesting i raccomend it if you like murder solving.

it's not bad

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Having watched TV adaptation Dark Angel.
Was intreagd by the audio book.
Was totally engrossing and gave me a totally different insight to the TV series .
Did she do it was it by accident or a miss carriage of justice.
I'm not able to make my mind up

absolutely fascinating book

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The narrator has a sweet voice but fluctuates so much in pitch that I can't relax into the book, which is obviously very thoroughly researched. I usually like this type of book but will shelve this.

Not for me

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The content is solid but unfortunately the narrator doesn't work. Her voice (through no fault of her own) is pitchy and inconsistent and sadly that distracts from the book itself

Narration let's this down

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Listened to this as a local man interested in the story of Mary Ann Cotton, but the story was told a little like a pseudo academic piece of research. Narrator was odd too: I can forgive the inability to pronounce local place names, but standard English too? Worth a listen if you’re interested in the topic.

Interesting story, oddly told

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Story was completely all over the place. Jumped back and forth and had no rhythm at all. This was interesting content but deserved better writing. Performance is fine.

Poorly written

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