Murder at Home: how our safest space is where we're most in danger

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Here, he takes a tour around the various parts of the home, examining the significance of each room to “the commission or aftermath” of a murder. This really isn't an especially comforting read for everyone who thinks that home is the safest place to be, as this book suggests quite the opposite!

The book is structured a bit like a walkthrough of a house, each chapter focuses on a different space such as doorstep and bedroom. Still active as a contractor, he enjoys writing in what spare time he can find, with his first published book coming out in May 2019, “Lone Star Odyssey-First Steps”. Having visited countless crime scenes in his 40-year career, leading criminologist David Wilson is fascinated by how the mundane and banal can be transformed by violent death. Wilson also adds a terrific list of "Further Reading" (including a biography of Ian Brady written by my old RE teacher 😳) for anyone wishing to delve into the subject more deeply.He’s certainly not worried about getting on stage to talk to a Glasgow audience as part of his My Life with Murderers tour, which will come to The Old Fruitmarket on May 2. In his excellent 2020 book, Signs of Murder, Wilson wrote about the murder of Margaret McLaughlin in his home town of Carluke when he was still a boy. This is an original look at crime, to be sure; but it isn't an easy read, all things considered, and certainly won't make anyone feel warmly towards the male of the species. It’s surprising that anything fazes this professor emeritus of criminology, former prison governor, author of over 15 books and broadcaster, considering he’s spent much of his career interviewing and studying murderers, including the notorious serial killer, Dennis Nilsen.

The 65,000 word manuscript that he’s written for the forthcoming release to follow-up this month’s publication, Murder At Home, has vanished from his computer. Join the UK’s leading criminologist Professor David Wilson, author of the fascinating new book Murder At Home as he explores how, for so many victims, their safest space is the place they are most in danger. Issues of dominance and control particularly express themselves when bodies are buried in gardens or within the fabric of the house itself, and the state of the crime scene can suggest a great deal about the interplay between a killer’s conflicting desires to evade justice and yet be recognised as the author of their crimes. I want to persuade the audience that an interest in true crime is not just normal but necessary and, above all, to offer hope about how we can reduce the incidence of murder and serial murder in our culture.We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself. The bedroom, now considered an inner sanctum, was once a much more communal space, a fact illustrated by the case of Mary Ann Cotton, who poisoned Joseph Nattrass (very likely her 17th victim) in 1872, under the guise of nursing him through gastric flu. That as a phenomenon is something that needs to be better understood and explained and one of the ways I try to is through evolutionary psychology, because so often they have to deal with the violence of men”, says Wilson, who teaches at Birmingham City University. Joining the Marine Corps (0341) at the age of 17, he enjoyed his time in the grunts, but switched over to Counterintelligence after picking up Sergeant. Detailing a mix of infamous and lesser-known cases – amongst them the crimes of Ian Brady (and Myra Hindley), Mary Ann Cotton, Fred and Rose West, and Peter Tobin, and a review of the Clydach Murders – each chapter groups them by the location within the home where significant elements of the crimes took place.

Living in Texas with his wife and kids, most of his time outside of work is spent with his wife and kids, their horses and dogs, and with repairs around the ranch. Wilson also introduces the concept of "whole house murders", or 'annihilations' - which are as horrific as the name suggests. He also introduces a great deal of psychology and current thinking into the mix, and this adds to an already rich concoction. However, he soon realised that the outcome could have been very different, and became fascinated by his subject matter. It’s one of those not-so-fun facts that we know we’ve heard at some point, but have immediately pushed to the backs of our minds.

This gripping new title from the author of My Life with Murderers and A Plot to Kill explores the tragic prevalence of domestic murder and how, for so many victims, their own home is the place they are most in danger. But they do provide insight into the psychologies of their subjects from the perspective of an expert of 40 years’ standing, twinned with a genuine desire to understand what the concept of “home” represents to us, and how violent death can both shatter it and expose the hidden, implicit meanings beneath the surface.

We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories. He refers frequently to the Freudian concept of the unheimlich – literally “unhomely” but often translated as “uncanny” – and asks what it is that is “submerged in the history of the spaces where we live, that . Prior to taking up an academic appointment in 1997, David was a prison governor working at a variety of establishments in a number of different roles. A riveting and thought-provoking study of murder, ‘Murder at Home’ is a superb addition to Wilson’s already expansive library of criminological works.

If you understand when men are going to be violent then you can better avoid those situations and, indeed, those men. It’s not by chance that he begins his tour at the doorstep, the preferred spot of the hitman, as it is one of the “liminal” spaces that mark the boundary between the public and private, one of this book’s recurring themes. There is no place like home: our sanctuaries, the scenes of family drama and tranquillity, host to social gatherings, witness to the entire span of our lives.