Overview

The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream takes readers to the late nineteenth century as Scotland Yard follows the trail of a cold-blooded serial killer who was as brazen as the notorious Jack the Ripper and who would finally be brought to justice by detectives employing a new science called forensics. “When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals,” Sherlock Holmes observed during one of his most baffling investigations. “He has nerve and he has knowledge.” In the span of fifteen years, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream poisoned at least ten women in the United States, Britain, and Canada, a death toll with almost no precedents. Structured around Cream’s London murder trial in 1891, when he was finally brought to justice, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream exposes the blind trust given to medical practitioners, as well as the flawed detection methods, bungled investigations, corrupt officials, and stifling morality of Victorian society that allowed Cream to prey on vulnerable and desperate women, many of whom had turned to him for medical help. Dean Jobb vividly re-creates this largely forgotten historical account against the backdrop of the birth of modern policing and newly adopted forensic methods, though most police departments still scoffed at using science to solve crimes. But then most police departments could hardly imagine that serial killers existed – the term was unknown at the time. As the Chicago Tribune wrote then, Cream’s crimes marked the emergence of a new breed of killer, one who operated without motive or remorse, who “murdered simply for the sake of murder.” 

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9781616206895

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Reviews

One of CrimeReads' Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2021 True crime fans will want to pick up Dean Jobb's engrossing account of Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb builds Cream's world in vivid, transportive detail; I had a lot of fun being swept away. --BuzzFeed, 28 Summer Books To Get Excited About Jobb's extensive research pays off in a true-crime masterpiece that will easily sit alongside The Devil in the White City. --Publishers Weekly, starred review Jobb richly embellishes his grim central tale with carefully researched setting, detail, and social mores of the late Victorian era, elegantly contrasted with his eponymous fiend, Thomas Neill Cream . . . A vivid, engaging revival of a forgotten Victorian villain. --Kirkus Reviews Dean Jobb's engrossing true crime text, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream, concerns the exploits of Thomas Cream, a notorious nineteenth-century killer who poisoned ten people as London perched on the edge of the modern age. --Foreword Review A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner. --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner. --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale. --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them. --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense PRAISE FOR EMPIRE OF DECEPTION: Intoxicating and impressively researched, Jobb's immorality tale provides a sobering post-Madoff reminder that those who think everything is theirs for the taking are destined to be taken. --The New York Times Book Review Comprehensively researched and enthralling . . . High-stakes hijinks give the story a rollicking feel, but Jobb manages great poignancy, too. . . This lively and sweeping account seems to have already given a master con artist his due, putting him in the 'pantheon of pyramid-building swindlers.' --The Washington Post This cautionary tale of 1920s greed and excess reads like it could happen today. --The Associated Press Jobb vividly, albeit briefly, brings the Chicago of the 1880s and '90s to life . . . [and] is a masterpiece of narrative set-up and vivid language. --Chicago Tribune

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021: The New York Times Book Review * BuzzFeed * CNN * CrimeReads * Book Riot A tour de force of storytelling. One of the best books I've read this year. Dean Jobb breathes new life into Cream's victims--who they were, where and how they lived--all the while blending in thorny issues of policing, of the fictional detectives being created, of the other serial killers on the loose. This book is both chilling and thrilling. --Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a macabre, utterly suspenseful true crime thriller about a forgotten madman every bit as cunning and evil as Jack the Ripper. Dean Jobb combines scholarship with a breakneck narrative so relentless it kept me up all night. Warning: Read with the lights on. --Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park The story of the infamous poisoner Thomas Neill Cream is so many things--horrifying, fascinating, and insightful, a portrait of late 19th-century police work at a time when the idea of the professional detective was just starting to take shape. And in this vivid and compelling book, Dean Jobb does full justice to that story. --Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner's Handbook Jobb recounts Cream's life and evokes the societal attitudes that allowed him to kill: the blind faith placed in doctors, the power imbalance between Cream and the people who sought his care. --The New York Times True crime fans will want to pick up Dean Jobb's engrossing account of Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb builds Cream's world in vivid, transportive detail; I had a lot of fun being swept away. --BuzzFeed, 28 Summer Books to Get Excited About A must for true crime fans. --CNN [Jobb] creates a nuanced portrait of Cream that's much more chilling than Mr. Hyde. --BookPage Masterful . . . True crime doesn't get any better than this. --Booklist [A] fascinating read. --Oxygen.com, July Book Club Selection Chilling and fascinating . . . Jobb's true crime stories are not to be missed. --CrimeReads Jobb's extensive research pays off in a true crime masterpiece that will easily sit alongside The Devil in the White City. --Publishers Weekly, starred review Jobb richly embellishes his grim central tale with carefully researched setting, detail, and social mores of the late Victorian era, elegantly contrasted with his eponymous fiend, Thomas Neill Cream . . . A vivid, engaging revival of a forgotten Victorian villain. --Kirkus Reviews Jobb does a masterful job of following the investigation, which ranged from England to the United States to Canada, and of presenting Dr. Cream not merely as a murderer, but as a complex, unstable, and deeply fascinating individual. True crime doesn't get any better than this. --Booklist Jobb's research is excellent . . . [His] compelling account of Cream's reign of terror will appeal to readers interested in Jack the Ripper or Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. --Library Journal Engrossing . . . An informative and entertaining true crime text. --Foreword Review Jobb captures the hypocrisy, class differences, and gender inequality of the times in an extensively researched non-fiction telling of the forgotten nineteenth century serial killer Dr. Thomas Neill Cream . . . Both grim and hard to put down. --Southern Bookseller Review Dean Jobb's meticulous research is evident on every page of his gripping study of the extraordinary serial killer Doctor Cream, a nineteenth century 'monster of iniquity' whose homicidal career was truly stranger than fiction. --Martin Edwards, author of Mortmain Hall and the Lake District Mysteries Dean Jobb has produced another mesmerizing feat of historical storytelling. The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream vividly recreates the career of one of the most audacious--and deadly--criminals in history. --Gary Krist, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Sin and The Mirage Factory Tense, atmospheric, and effortlessly readable, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream has all the sinister elegance of a hansom cab emerging from a late Victorian London smog. --Paul Willetts, author of King Con Deeply researched and rich in grisly detail, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream fuses the blow-by-blow efforts to catch a serial killer with the larger picture of crime and detection in the late nineteenth century. A fine piece of social history as well as an extraordinary story, it engrossed me right up to its deeply satisfying conclusion. --Charlotte Gray, author of eleven nonfiction bestsellers, including The Massey Murder and Murdered Midas A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner. --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner. --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale. --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them. --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense

One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2021: The New York Times Book Review * BuzzFeed * CNN * CrimeReads * Book Riot One of IndieWire's 10 Best Gifts for True Crime Fans Jobb recounts Cream's life and evokes the societal attitudes that allowed him to kill: the blind faith placed in doctors, the power imbalance between Cream and the people who sought his care. --The New York Times A deeply absorbing account of the life and deeds of one of the Ripper's earliest 'successors' . . . An admirable piece of work, a model for its kind. --The Wall Street Journal [Dr. Thomas Neill Cream] will hauntingly occupy a space in your nightmares after you read of his life and crimes in The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream. An extraordinarily well-researched and arrestingly written work . . . this is a book that grabs you from its first sentence, weaving a suspenseful tale and taking readers on a grand, if gruesome, historical journey. --Chicago Tribune Jobb . . . re-creates Cream's heartless life in short, highly dramatic chapters. --The Washington Post If you've been hunting for your next true crime addiction this summer, Dean Jobb's The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream has it all: a serial-killer doctor, corrupt leaders, and a ground-breaking investigation by Scotland Yard, all within the spellbinding setting of London circa 1892. --Elle True crime fans will want to pick up Dean Jobb's engrossing account of Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb builds Cream's world in vivid, transportive detail; I had a lot of fun being swept away. --BuzzFeed, 28 Summer Books to Get Excited About A must for true crime fans. --CNN A tour de force of storytelling. One of the best books I've read this year. Dean Jobb breathes new life into Cream's victims--who they were, where and how they lived--all the while blending in thorny issues of policing, of the fictional detectives being created, of the other serial killers on the loose. This book is both chilling and thrilling. --Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a macabre, utterly suspenseful true crime thriller about a forgotten madman every bit as cunning and evil as Jack the Ripper. Dean Jobb combines scholarship with a breakneck narrative so relentless it kept me up all night. Warning: Read with the lights on. --Abbott Kahler, New York Times bestselling author (as Karen Abbott) of The Ghosts of Eden Park The story of the infamous poisoner Thomas Neill Cream is so many things--horrifying, fascinating, and insightful, a portrait of late 19th-century police work at a time when the idea of the professional detective was just starting to take shape. And in this vivid and compelling book, Dean Jobb does full justice to that story. --Deborah Blum, New York Times bestselling author of The Poisoner's Handbook [Jobb] creates a nuanced portrait of Cream that's much more chilling than Mr. Hyde. --BookPage Masterful . . . True crime doesn't get any better than this. --Booklist [A] fascinating read. --Oxygen.com, July Book Club Selection Chilling and fascinating . . . Jobb's true crime stories are not to be missed. --CrimeReads Jobb's extensive research pays off in a true crime masterpiece that will easily sit alongside The Devil in the White City. --Publishers Weekly, starred review Jobb richly embellishes his grim central tale with carefully researched setting, detail, and social mores of the late Victorian era, elegantly contrasted with his eponymous fiend, Thomas Neill Cream . . . A vivid, engaging revival of a forgotten Victorian villain. --Kirkus Reviews An illuminating, if frightening, book . . . Jobb handles this hideous yet compelling story so well . . . An absorbing and grim account, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream is a gripping addition to the true crime genre. --Bookreporter.com Jobb uses Cream's spree to illuminate the era's surgical and policing practices, and despite Cream's monstrousness, Jobb's storytelling 'makes the book a pleasure to read.' --The Week [A] fascinating read. --Oxygen.com The graphically told tale of a notorious 19th-century slayer... Impressive. --Washington Independent Review of Books Jobb does a masterful job of following the investigation, which ranged from England to the United States to Canada, and of presenting Dr. Cream not merely as a murderer, but as a complex, unstable, and deeply fascinating individual. True crime doesn't get any better than this. --Booklist Jobb's research is excellent . . . [His] compelling account of Cream's reign of terror will appeal to readers interested in Jack the Ripper or Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. --Library Journal Engrossing . . . An informative and entertaining true crime text. --Foreword Review Jobb captures the hypocrisy, class differences, and gender inequality of the times in an extensively researched non-fiction telling of the forgotten nineteenth century serial killer Dr. Thomas Neill Cream . . . Both grim and hard to put down. --Southern Bookseller Review Dean Jobb's meticulous research is evident on every page of his gripping study of the extraordinary serial killer Doctor Cream, a nineteenth century 'monster of iniquity' whose homicidal career was truly stranger than fiction. --Martin Edwards, author of Mortmain Hall and the Lake District Mysteries Dean Jobb has produced another mesmerizing feat of historical storytelling. The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream vividly recreates the career of one of the most audacious--and deadly--criminals in history. --Gary Krist, New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Sin and The Mirage Factory Tense, atmospheric, and effortlessly readable, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream has all the sinister elegance of a hansom cab emerging from a late Victorian London smog. --Paul Willetts, author of King Con Deeply researched and rich in grisly detail, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream fuses the blow-by-blow efforts to catch a serial killer with the larger picture of crime and detection in the late nineteenth century. A fine piece of social history as well as an extraordinary story, it engrossed me right up to its deeply satisfying conclusion. --Charlotte Gray, author of eleven nonfiction bestsellers, including The Massey Murder and Murdered Midas A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner. --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner. --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale. --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them. --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense An exciting whodunit . . . Jobb also does the unusual in true crime: he describes in detail the lives of Cream's victims. The scholarship he employed to tell this story is staggering . . . the numbing regard and treatment of women in Victorian times -- especially of unmarried pregnant, widowed and abandoned women -- tugs at the heart. --Winnipeg Free Press A must-read... historically rich and shockingly poignant, Jobb's text is not one to miss. --True Crime Index First-rate creative non-fiction [and] very hard to put down . . . Crime buffs are going to motor through this book. --Saltwire.com

PRAISE FOR THE CASE OF THE MURDEROUS DR. CREAM: A tour de force of storytelling. A wondrous example of creative nonfiction and one of the best books I've read this year. Dean Jobb has brought to life not just the Victorian era monster that was Thomas Neill Cream . . . Jobb breathes new life into Cream's victims--who they were, where and how they lived--all the while blending in thorny issues of policing, of the fictional detectives being created, of the other serial killers on the loose. This book is both chilling and, for fans like me of creative nonfiction, thrilling. --Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Gamache series A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner. --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner. --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale. --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them. --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense PRAISE FOR EMPIRE OF DECEPTION: Intoxicating and impressively researched, Jobb's immorality tale provides a sobering post-Madoff reminder that those who think everything is theirs for the taking are destined to be taken. --The New York Times Book Review Comprehensively researched and enthralling . . . High-stakes hijinks give the story a rollicking feel, but Jobb manages great poignancy, too. . . This lively and sweeping account seems to have already given a master con artist his due, putting him in the 'pantheon of pyramid-building swindlers.' --The Washington Post This cautionary tale of 1920s greed and excess reads like it could happen today. --The Associated Press Jobb vividly, albeit briefly, brings the Chicago of the 1880s and '90s to life . . . [and] is a masterpiece of narrative set-up and vivid language. --Chicago Tribune Dean Jobb skillfully dusts off this century-old tale with a fast-paced narrative, a keen eye for detail and a cast of characters in which the free-for-all city of Chicago plays a prominent role . . . [A] masterfully told story. --Minneapolis Star Tribune

PRAISE FOR THE CASE OF THE MURDEROUS DR. CREAM: A brilliant evocation of an age and a fascinating dissection of a serial killer's crimes. Dean Jobb is a first-rate storyteller and historical detective. A real page-turner. --Lindsey Fitzharris, author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine Corruption, madness, murder: Dr. Cream has it all. This is a spectacular and absorbing tale, meticulously reported and vividly told. An enthralling page-turner. --Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot that Captured America's Most Wanted Gangster The definitive retelling of a story about a devious doctor, the dogged investigators who hunted him, and the murders that shocked the world. Dr. Cream's story comes to life in Jobb's spellbinding tale. --Kate Winkler Dawson, author American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI A tour de force of research, The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream conjures an era when poisoners roamed the earth--and police seemed powerless to stop them. --Margalit Fox, author of Conan Doyle for the Defense PRAISE FOR EMPIRE OF DECEPTION: Intoxicating and impressively researched, Jobb's immorality tale provides a sobering post-Madoff reminder that those who think everything is theirs for the taking are destined to be taken. --The New York Times Book Review Comprehensively researched and enthralling . . . High-stakes hijinks give the story a rollicking feel, but Jobb manages great poignancy, too. . . This lively and sweeping account seems to have already given a master con artist his due, putting him in the 'pantheon of pyramid-building swindlers.' --The Washington Post This cautionary tale of 1920s greed and excess reads like it could happen today. --The Associated Press Jobb vividly, albeit briefly, brings the Chicago of the 1880s and '90s to life . . . [and] is a masterpiece of narrative set-up and vivid language. --Chicago Tribune Dean Jobb skillfully dusts off this century-old tale with a fast-paced narrative, a keen eye for detail and a cast of characters in which the free-for-all city of Chicago plays a prominent role . . . [A] masterfully told story. --Minneapolis Star Tribune

Author Information

Dean Jobb is an award-winning author and journalist and a professor at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he teaches in the graduate Creative Nonfiction and Journalism programs. He is the author of six previous books, including Empire of Deception, called “intoxicating and impressive” by The New York Times Book Review. Jobb has written for major American and Canadian newspapers and magazines, including the Chicago Tribune, the American Journalism Review, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, and his monthly true-crime column, “Stranger Than Fiction,” appears in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. His work as an investigative reporter has been nominated for Canada’s National Newspaper and National Magazine awards and Jobb is a three-time winner of Atlantic Canada’s top journalism award. His website is www.deanjobb.com.

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