Ruxton: The First Modern Murder

Two dismembered bodies discarded in the borderlands of Scotland, hideously mutilated to avoid identification. Forty-three pieces of rotten flesh and bone wrapped in rags and newspaper. A jigsaw puzzle of decomposing human remains.

A glamorous young wife and her dutiful nursemaid missing. A handsome, mild-mannered town doctor insanely jealous of his wife’s friendships with other men.

It is 1935 and the deaths of Isabella Ruxton and Mary Rogerson would result in one of the most complex investigations the world had ever seen. The gruesome murders captured worldwide attention with newspapers keeping the public enthralled with all the gory details.

But behind the headlines was a different, more important story: the groundbreaking work of Scottish forensic scientists who developed new techniques to solve the case and shape the future of scientific criminal investigation.

With access to previously unseen documents, this book re-examines the case and reveals for the first time the incredible inside story of the investigation and its legacy.

This is the first modern murder.