Product Description

In 1875 the beautiful widow Florence Ricardo married the handsome and successful young attorney Charles Bravo, hoping to escape the scandals of her past. But Bravo proved to be a brutal and conniving man, and the marriage was far from happy. Then one night he suddenly collapsed, and three days later died an agonizing death. His doctors immediately determined that he had been poisoned. The graphic and sensational details of the case would capture the public imagination of Victorian England as the investigation dominated the press for weeks, and the list of suspects grew to include Florence, her secret lover the eminent doctor James Gully, her longtime companion the housekeeper Mrs. Cox, and the recently dismissed stableman George Griffiths. But ultimately no murderer could be determined, and despite the efforts of numerous historians, criminologists, and other writers since (including Agatha Christie), the case has never been definitively solved. Now James Ruddick retells this gripping story of love, greed, brutality, and betrayal among the elite -- offering an intimate portrait of Victorian culture and of one woman's struggle to live in this repressive society, while unmasking the true murderer for the first time. Simultaneously a murder mystery, colorful social history, and modern-day detective tale, Death at the Priory is a thrilling read and a window into a fascinating time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #379019 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
The fatal poisoning of Charles Bravo in 1876 remains a great, unsolved mystery. As James Ruddick shows in this engrossing account, there was no shortage of suspects. Among them were Bravo's wife, Florence, who married the young barrister in part to erase the taint of a recent sexual scandal; Jane Cox, a servant caught spinning a web of lies about what happened the night Bravo died; and James Gully, an esteemed doctor who was also once Florence's lover. "In time, the case passed into the pantheon of English crime, a riddle that drew the interest in speculation of every passing generation," writes Ruddick. It's not hard to see why. Death at the Priory is full of compelling personalities and titillating revelations about what happened behind the closed doors of Victorian England. Ruddick promises something more than a rehash of the established facts: "I discovered the new evidence which has enabled me to expose Charles Bravo's murderer." The author ultimately does not point his finger in a surprising direction, though he has added substantial details to what's known about the case. Fans of true-crime literature will enjoy this book, especially if they're attracted to its historical setting. --John Miller

From Publishers Weekly
Journalist Ruddick (Lord Lucan: What Really Happened) presents a colorful, entertaining account of an unsolved Victorian murder, rife with uneasy class and gender issues. The sensational 1876 domestic poisoning, which fascinated Agatha Christie and others, features archetypal mystery elements, including a gloomy south London mansion, inscrutable servants, rejected lovers, a despicable victim and a protagonist embodying her era's tortured sexual politics. The young Florence Ricardo attained fortune and social position after her alcoholic, abusive husband's death, but the discovery of her affair with the much older, prominent physician James Gully jeopardized her standing. Thus she enthusiastically agreed to marry attorney Charles Bravo. Unfortunately, Bravo emerged as a mean-spirited misogynist, controlling Florence's finances and treating her as his sexual possession, even following a traumatic miscarriage. In his final days Bravo dismissed Florence's servants willy-nilly, providing numerous suspects in his murder: one night, his water pitcher was spiked with a lethal dose of tartar emetic, a derivative of antimony. Initial suspicion centered on Mrs. Cox, Florence's taciturn housekeeper, who seemingly misled doctors and investigators, and Florence herself was humiliatingly grilled during the inquest. Despite widespread speculation, officials concluded that there was insufficient evidence against any of the suspects. Ruddick shrewdly surveys these events, illuminating his story with trenchant insights into key figures' lives and the social codes that encouraged Bravo's chauvinism and made Florence an outcast for her attempted self-determination. He catalogues previous theories about the culprit (Christie favored the jilted Dr. Gully), then offers a plausible hypothesis. This well-executed portrait of Victorian mores and malice will please the mystery and true-crime crowd and very possibly a wider audience. Eight pages b&w photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-A true-crime story that will hook readers from the beginning. A young woman, a faithful housekeeper, a former lover, an abusive husband-all are the ingredients of a classic murder mystery, but all play into this story of real life and death in 1876 England. Ruddick considers the facts, introduces the people involved, and "solves" a case that has fascinated people for more than 126 years. Just a few months into his marriage to Florence, Charles Bravo became desperately ill. Despite the best efforts of the finest physicians, he died after three days of terrible suffering. Within the week, two Scotland Yard Detectives were assigned to investigate foul play. A coroner's inquest was held and the scandalous details of lives were divulged. Despite five weeks of testimony, the jury announced that there was "insufficient" evidence to name Bravo's murderer. That's where the case remained until the author began conducting his own investigation in 1999. He became hooked as he read about and revisited the case and tried to bring a fresh perspective to an unsolved poisoning. Teens will find this a fascinating look at the lifestyles of the Victorian age.
Peggy Bercher, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

an atmospheric masterpiece
I read this book in England in October and considered it to be the book of the year. Ruddick's strength is his ability to take lots of disparate themes and thread them all together in a thrilling page-turner. On one level the book is a straightforward murder mystery - was Charles Bravo murdered by his wife, his wife's lover, his housekeeper or the stableman? The plot twists and turns like something from Patricia Cornwell or Elizabeth George. But then Ruddick begins sowing into the story other dimensions: he looks at the repressive nature of Victorian society, and particularly at the appalling way it treated its women. He reveals the shocking consequences of transgressing the moral codes of the time. He brings to life the atmosphere of London in 1876, the wealth and poverty, the strict social hierarchy, the conversations, appearances and personalites: his prose style is rich with the flavour of the period. Towards the end, the book changes gear and becomes a modern thriller, with Ruddick himself travelling the world in search of the proof he needs to unmask the killer. He knows who committed the crime - so do we - and the pleasure is in watching him slowly piece together the evidence. The last hundred pages were so compulsive I took the phone off the hook. Ultimately Ruddick succeeds in taking several genres - crime, romance, history - and weaving them into a masterpiece of suspense. This book was thrilling to read and will be selling for years...

Victorian Victims
In 1876 a young newlywed and Victorian aristocrat, Charles Bravo suffers a horrible death by a caustic poison in his London area mansion, the Priory. Murder! Despite four clear suspects, a Scotland Yard investigation, a highly publicized Coroner's inquest and 125 years of professional and amateur sleuthing, the murderer is not identified . . . until now!

James Ruddick solves an infamous riddle in "Death At The Priory". His book is divided into three intriguing parts. The events leading up to the murder and the inital inquest provides all the suspense and mystery of an Agatha Christie yarn. Ruddick skillfully weaves Coroner's inquest testimony into facinating dialog, adding color and spice to a brisk narration.

The second part enables the author to narrow the suspects and eventually identify the murderer by utilizing the wealth of research on the murder and a very creative perspective. The third part takes the reader through some of the dark secrets of Victorian wealth. In a society of double standards, even a wealthy woman becomes a prisoner within her own household. What can she do to stop being beaten, sodomized, robbed, verbally abused and nearly killed by an abusive husband? There are no help groups or laws to protect her.

In the end most of the charaters involved in "Death At The Priory" are poisoned by the notoriety. For the reader there is a great deal of satisfaction from this work and a greater appreciation that today's standards, no matter how flawed, are far more preferable than the good old days of Queen Victoria. Enjoy!

Interesting but not difinitive.
Interesting but not definitive.
It was a marriage of convenience that had turned inconvenient for someone. In 1875, Florence Ricardo married Charles Bravo. He was after her money and she was seeking to cleanse her name after a lurid sex scandal by marrying respectably. After less than six months of married life he was dead and a cloud of suspicion hung over his wife and the servants of her home.
A Coroner's inquest determined that the death was murder by poisoning. But it was never able to solve who had committed the crime. The chief suspects were: The widow who resented his attempt to control her money, the groom who had been fired by the new master of the house, the lady's maid who was next line for dismissal, or the elderly doctor who was Florence's ex-lover embittered about her marriage.
This unsolved Victorian mystery has been the subject of numerous speculations for over a century. Investigative reporter James Ruddick feels that he has finally cracked the case with damming new evidence. He goes beyond the source material used by many authors and travels the world over to contact descendants of the infamous participants in the original mystery. He weaves together a narrative that he feels is the definitive solution to the case.
This book is, in my opinion, a little too concerned with showing off the intrepid exploits of the author than it is with reasoning out the evidence. While his solution is very plausible this book is by no means going to be the final word on the case.