Don't judge a book by its cover
(even if it looks as tacky as this one. ;)

Dispite the mock tabloid cover advertising sensationalised stories in the worst taste; I found myself drawn to an article on the young writer Thomas Hardy (whome I much admire), and so picked up a handfull of these 'The World's Greatest...' titles from my local Charity Shop for a few pennies. I needed something 'bite sized' to fill my time in 10min chuncks waiting in queues (I live in England, and we still queue for stuff here. Even our 'fast food' drive thrus(sic) more often than not will park you up in a bay for 20mins while they process your orders).

It's a somewhat unbalanced collection of essays, some 5-6 pages long with photographs, others as little as 8 lines.
Some case files I remember clearly when they first hit the headlines, others such as the Medici family date to half a millennia ago. What they all share in common is a sudden act of violence initiated by a cruel betrayal of the heart instigated by the victim themselves.

How the justice system treats these individuals varies widely depending on where in the world the incident occurred, when it took place, but as always the greatest deciding factor is often social and economic. Then as now, if you come from money you are likely to get away with murder, even the 'crime passionnel' often favoured the wealthy or else those society deemed morally virtuous, attractive, and especially in the case of the women, timid and meek. A frail, frightened figure could often enlist the sympathy of a jury who would frown on a strong willed, well manicured 'jezabelle'.

Of course, not all the killers were women; some could also be men. In fact I knew one personally. He happened to be my barber, growing up; and it was common knowledge that he had killed his wife and her lover and gotton away with only a token sentence. Apparently there was no social stigma to the crime passionnel and people felt quite comfortable, even to the point of allowing him to cut their children's hair!
It has to be said; that man knew his way around a cut-throat like no-one's business. :/ ( )

The World's Greatest Crimes of Passion is a fascinating look at some famous (and not so famous) murders committed in the name of love. With most true crime books dealing with serial killers or child murderers, crimes of passion tend to be neglected and upstaged. However, some of these crimes are quite interesting to read about.

As with most anthologies, this book doesn't have room to cover stories as in-depth as I might like. However, there is more detail than I am used to in books of this type. The World's Greatest Crimes of Passion is not spectacular, but it is a decent and enjoyable read nonetheless. ( )