Douglas Wynn – författare

These tales from Lincolnshire's forgotten past are testament to the sinister side of the county's coastal resorts and inland market towns. Retold for a new generation are shocking stories of drunken brawls in towns, death from poison and jealous rages. Mixing genuine historical documents with contemporary photography to show the scenes where these disturbing dramas were played out, Wynn's collection of true crime provides a mesmerising evocation of the past. It is sure to haunt the imagination of any reader with an interest in the darker history of Lincolnshire.

The historic city of Lincoln has a history going back to the Romans and a catalogue of crimes to match it. John Haig, the acid-bath murderer, was born in nearby Stamford and was imprisoned in Lincoln where he experimented on small animals to perfect his acid-bath techniques. The city also has its share of women who drowned unwanted babies in the nearby River Witham, and husbands who beat their wives to death. Then there is the poacher who shot and killed a gamekeeper in the woods near Lincoln, and the borstal boy who took a shine to the matron but battered her to death with a chair when she rebuked his advances. Combining meticulous research with evocative photography, the author provides a feast of crime to haunt the imagination of any reader interested in criminal and local history.

Built by the Romans, looted by the Danes and conquered by King William I (who devastated the town to build a castle and a cathedral), the city of Lincoln has had a long and most dreadful history. Containing medieval child murder, vile sieges of (and escapes from) the castle, the savage repression of the Lincolnshire rising by King Henry VIII (who had the ringleaders hanged, drawn and quartered) and plagues, lepers, prisons, riots, typhoid, tanks and terrible hangings by the ton, you’ll never see the city in the same way again.