The early decades of the twentieth century were known as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction with stories from the pens of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. In real life, however, murder was even more dramatic, with sinister characters, complex crimes and plenty of plot twists. Join crime historian and author Angela Buckley for a fascinating glimpse into some of the most sensational true crime cases of the early twentieth century and the forensic science that helped solve them.

Angela’s talk will feature legendary detectives and their sleuthing activities, and the pioneering exploits of ‘celebrity’ pathologist, Sir Bernard Spilsbury and his dazzling court performances. It will reveal the groundbreaking advances in forensic science and crime scene investigation techniques in the early 1900s, such as toxicology, blood spatter analysis, fire investigation and victim identification, which brought some of the most notorious killers to justice in iconic historical murder cases, such as the Brides in the Bath Murders, the Crumbles Murder and the Blazing Car Mystery.