Hallie Rubenhold

Infamous Edwardian wife-murderer Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen was brought to justice by an unlikely group of people: music hall women.

On 1 February 1910, the vivacious music hall performer Belle Elmore (real name Cora) suddenly vanished from her north London home, causing alarm among her circle of female friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild, who demanded an immediate investigation. What came to light was a gruesome secret, and the eventual conviction and hanging of Dr Crippen, a homoeopath and ear and eye specialist, for the murder.

Hear how historian Hallie Rubenhold gave voice to those who were never properly heard during the period: the women.

Rubenhold is the number one Sunday Times-bestselling author of The Five: The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper, a look at the lives of the women murdered by the famous serial killer. The book won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction.

She is also the author of The Covent Garden Ladies, which was the inspiration behind the BBC show Harlots. Her biographical work, Lady Worsley's Whim, was dramatised by the BBC as The Scandalous Lady W.