Hangman's Brae by Colin Duncan
Hangman's Brae is a vividly written account of the blood-curdling crimes and brutal forms of punishment of north-east Scotland. The book explores the area's underworld and features the grave-robbers, jail-breakers, rioters and other lawbreakers whose crimes led them to premature deaths at the end of a rope or at the not so delicate hands of The Maiden, a gruesome decapitating device predating the French guillotine. The stories of the men who enforced the law and meted out sentences to the ne'er-do-wells who broke it can be just as interesting and memorable as those of the criminals and Norman Adams introduces the reader to some of them. Here you'll find some real characters such as the Aberdeenshire sheriff and criminal officer who always got his man - once spending two chilling nights chained to a brutal murderer and rapist. And it wasn't just hangings that these men had to perform - their grisly work also involved execution by beheading and drowning, often with some witch-burning for good measure. The many true-crime cases in this book shed new light on just how violent and bloody the north-east of Scotland's past was.
Norman Adams, a former journalist, has written many novels and non-fiction volumes on both crime and the supernatural, occasionally being called in to investigate alleged hauntings as a member of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research. His Blood and Granite: True Crime from Aberdeen was a best-seller in 2003. He is also the author of the popular Wee Book of Aberdeen.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781845020392 |
| ISBN 10 | 1845020391 |
| Title | Hangman's Brae |
| Author | Colin Duncan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bonnier Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2005-05-31 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |