PRESS RELEASE
FOR
MURDER, MYSTERY AND MISADVENTURE
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A fascinating new ‘true crime’ history book by Tony Matthews has now been released by Brisbane publisher Boolarong Press.
Murder, Mystery and Massacre contains a diversified pastiche of intensely researched stories which reveal some of the most bizarre and extraordinary tales drawn largely from Australia’s bloody colonial era.
‘I spent quite a few years researching these cases and the result is, I believe, one of the most colourful collections of true Australian crime stories ever released,’ Tony Matthews said. ‘But it’s not just crime, there are other chapters which provide full details of terrible tragedies, lost treasures, slavery and much more.’
Among the collection of individual stories are some of the most unusual cases ever published. Gold mysteries, mutiny, shipwreck, murder by strychnine, escaped convicts, buried alive, brutal executions, true whodunits, the list goes on and on.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Murder, Mystery and Massacre contains dozens of real-life stories about crimes of passion and greed and about the relentless and sometimes merciless processes of the law. There are bloodthirsty headhunters, cannibals of the South Pacific, pirates and buried treasure, shipboard massacres and murders, mutinies, stolen schooners, convict revolts and mass executions, mining disasters, murder by sacrifice and a great deal more.
Australia’s colonial ancestors were rough and tough but this new book by Tony Matthews tells us just how dangerous and brutal life could really be. There are stories of lying scoundrels and cheats, murderers and hangmen, desperate gaol breaks, long forgotten mysteries, lost gold, whippings, unholy prisons and daring gold robberies.
‘In this book I have attempted to draw the reader into the complexities and even some of the horrors and tragedies of our bygone years,’ Tony Matthews said, ‘and I have been careful only to select and write about true stories that have all the vital elements of the strange, the unusual and even, dare I say it, the macabre.’
In this highly unusual book Tony Matthews reveals the harsh truths behind the infamous Creswick disaster, the worst accident in Australia’s goldmining history, during which twenty-two men were killed, some of them real Australian heroes who gave their lives in order to save their mates. These rich and fascinating true tales clearly demonstrate the real life dramas of living precariously in colonial Australia. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is often more bizarre and horrifying. Certainly this is the case with the enthralling tales unearthed by sleuthing historian Tony Matthews.
Murder, Mystery and Massacre contains a diversified pastiche of intensely researched stories which reveal some of the most bizarre and extraordinary tales drawn largely from Australia’s bloody colonial era.
‘I spent quite a few years researching these cases and the result is, I believe, one of the most colourful collections of true Australian crime stories ever released,’ Tony Matthews said. ‘But it’s not just crime, there are other chapters which provide full details of terrible tragedies, lost treasures, slavery and much more.’
Among the collection of individual stories are some of the most unusual cases ever published. Gold mysteries, mutiny, shipwreck, murder by strychnine, escaped convicts, buried alive, brutal executions, true whodunits, the list goes on and on.
Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. Murder, Mystery and Massacre contains dozens of real-life stories about crimes of passion and greed and about the relentless and sometimes merciless processes of the law. There are bloodthirsty headhunters, cannibals of the South Pacific, pirates and buried treasure, shipboard massacres and murders, mutinies, stolen schooners, convict revolts and mass executions, mining disasters, murder by sacrifice and a great deal more.
Australia’s colonial ancestors were rough and tough but this new book by Tony Matthews tells us just how dangerous and brutal life could really be. There are stories of lying scoundrels and cheats, murderers and hangmen, desperate gaol breaks, long forgotten mysteries, lost gold, whippings, unholy prisons and daring gold robberies.
‘In this book I have attempted to draw the reader into the complexities and even some of the horrors and tragedies of our bygone years,’ Tony Matthews said, ‘and I have been careful only to select and write about true stories that have all the vital elements of the strange, the unusual and even, dare I say it, the macabre.’
In this highly unusual book Tony Matthews reveals the harsh truths behind the infamous Creswick disaster, the worst accident in Australia’s goldmining history, during which twenty-two men were killed, some of them real Australian heroes who gave their lives in order to save their mates. These rich and fascinating true tales clearly demonstrate the real life dramas of living precariously in colonial Australia. Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is often more bizarre and horrifying. Certainly this is the case with the enthralling tales unearthed by sleuthing historian Tony Matthews.