Corvo Books Ltd.
Titles appearing in Reference — Research Book News — August 2007
A very English hangman; the life and times of Albert Pierrepoint.
Klein, Leonora.
Corvo Books Ltd., ©2006 252 p. $19.78 HV8579
0-9543255-6-7
Pierrepoint was the official executioner of some of the most infamous of his age, including Timothy Evans, Ruth Ellis and a host of Nazi war criminals. Klein, who was a barrister before she took up writing, has an eye for the details that matter as she explains from original sources how England's hangman from 1932 to 1956 managed to maintain his reputation for respectability and discretion by remaining within the contexts expected of him, despite his habit of selling what should have remained trade secrets. Klein seeks and finds what this very traditional man believed about his very traditional job and the society that sustained both. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
