The Whitechapel Society are hosting a traditional Christmas lunch, after which author Elizabeth Haynes will talk to those attending and feasting about her latest novel, The Murder of Harriet Monckton (Myriad, 2018), a delicious Victorian crime novel based on a true story that shocked and fascinated the nation.

On 7th November 1843, Harriet Monckton, 23 years old and a woman of respectable parentage and religious habits, is found murdered in the privy behind the chapel she regularly attended in Bromley, Kent. Drawing on the coroner’s reports and witness testimonies, Elizabeth Haynes builds a compelling picture of Harriet’s final hours through the eyes of those closest to her and the last people to see her alive. Her fellow teacher and companion, her would-be fiancé, her seducer, her former lover—all are suspects; each has a reason to want her dead.

Brimming with lust, mistrust and guilt, The Murder of Harriet Monckton is a masterclass of suspense from one of our greatest crime writers.

Tickets cost £28 per person and must be bought via the Whitechapel Society: [email protected]

The Whitechapel Society 1888 is a historical society that promotes the study of the Whitechapel murders and the social impact that this event had on the East End of London.