LEIGH. STRAW's Books

The Ballroom Murder

By: Leigh Straw

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In August 1925, Audrey Jacob shot dead her former fiancÉ, Cyril Gidley, in full view of hundreds of guests at a charity ball in Perth's Government House. When she was arrested, she still held the gun in her hand. It was a open and shut case of wilful murder—that is until Jacob assigned prosecutor Arthur Haynes to her defence. His ability to play the press and the jury for sympathy would lead to a sensational result. Not only did Jacob escape the gallows, she was found not guilty of Gidley's murder. Straw, the author of a number of books about notable Australian female criminals, tells a story that is rich with first-hand newspaper accounts from the day.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

Fremantle Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1760990582

ISBN 13

9781760990589

The Petticoat Parade

Madam Monnier and the Roe Street Brothels

By: Leigh Straw

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The Petticoat Parade

Madam Monnier and the Roe Street Brothels

By: Leigh Straw

Josie de Bray, aka Madam Monnier, aka Marie Louise Monnier, was a brothel madam who owned most of Roe Street, Perth from WWI up to the 1940s. A returned soldier tried to shoot her dead in her brothel in 1917 and her 'bungalow' was at the centre of underworld violence in the 1920s. She returned to France before WWII to visit family and was bombed repeatedly out of homes there and captured by the Germans. She was a prisoner of war and one story has her in a concentration camp. She survived, returned to Perth in 1947, and took up business again in Roe Street, having made a fortune from the rent collected from her brothels while she was a prisoner of war, up until her death in 1953.

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Page Count

225

Publisher

Fremantle Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1760990566

ISBN 13

9781760990565

Angel Of Death

Dulcie Markham, Australia's most beautiful bad woman

By: Leigh Straw

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Angel Of Death

Dulcie Markham, Australia's most beautiful bad woman

By: Leigh Straw

The newspapers called her 'Australia's most beautiful bad woman' and she was deadly to know... This is the story of 'pretty' Dulcie Markham, a key figure of the underworld of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, who, according to one crime reporter, 'saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia's history'. Nicknamed the 'Black Widow' and 'Angel of Death' by the crooks, reporters and police who knew her best, Dulcie's lovers were stabbed and gunned down in the most violent years of Australian crime, the 1920s to the 1950s. Not always by her ... PRAISE 'For readers new to the history of this appalling yet enthralling era of organised crime, the book will simply astonish' Catie Gilchrist, author of Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends, Tales from a Colonial Coroner's Court

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Page Count

178

Publisher

HarperCollins Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

1460710770

ISBN 13

9781460710777

Lillian Armfield

How Australia's first female detective took on Tilly Devine and the Razor Gangs and changed the face of the force

By: Leigh Straw

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Lillian Armfield

How Australia's first female detective took on Tilly Devine and the Razor Gangs and changed the face of the force

By: Leigh Straw

An engaging account of an extraordinary, trailblazing woman - Australia's first female detective - LILLIAN ARMFIELD is also the vivid and gripping story of the origins of Sydney's organised crime underbelly. 'Special Constable' Lillian Armfield was policing Sydney's mean streets during some of the most dramatic years of crime in the city. By the late 1920s, eastern Sydney was the heartland of organised crime and the notorious turf battles known as the Razor Wars, where bloodied bodies were strewn across streets after late-night clashes between rival gangs. At first disapproved of by her male colleagues, and often working solo and undercover, Lillian investigated it all - from runaway girls, opium dens and back-street sly grog shops to drug trafficking, rape and murder. She dealt with the infamous crime figures of the day - Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh, 'Botany May' Smith and their associates - who eventually accorded Lillian a grudging respect. Lillian Armfield's life and achievements were extraordinary. She paved the way for the women of today's police force and her amazing story is also a compelling chapter in Australian true crime history.

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Page Count

207

Publisher

Hachette Australia

Published Date

ISBN 10

0733638112

ISBN 13

9780733638114

After the War

Returned Soldiers and the Mental and Physical Scars of World War I

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

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After the War

Returned Soldiers and the Mental and Physical Scars of World War I

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

In Collie in 1929, a murder-suicide took place. The killer was identified as Andrew Straw. Dressed in war uniform and a slouch hat, a hauntingly familiar face stared out at me from the front page of Truth. Andrew Straw bore a striking resemblance to my husband. I had unearthed an unexpected family story." Of the 330,000 Australian men who enlisted and served in World War I, close to 60,000 never returned home. As much as it is important to commemorate the war dead, it is also imperative that we remember the survivors as they moved into peacetime. Of the 32,000 Western Australian men who enlisted, 23,700 returned from the war. These men tried to create a semblance of a civilian life following the traumas of war. War receded from immediate view as these men readjusted to civilian life, but its impacts endured. Many returned with disabilities, mental health problems and a lowered sense of self-worth that led some to take their own lives. This book charts the emergence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a diagnosable condition in an Australian context. In this deeply personal account, historian and writer Leigh Straw seeks a better understanding of what soldiers experienced once the fighting stopped. After the War uses the personal struggles of soldiers and their families to increase public understanding of the legacies of World War I in Western Australia and across the nation. The scars of war-mental and physical-can be lifelong for soldiers who serve their country. This is a story of surviving life after war. [Subject: Military History, History, PTSD, Psychology, WWI, Australian Studies]

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Page Count

244

Publisher

Apollo Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1742589499

ISBN 13

9781742589497

Angel of Death

Dulcie Markham, Australia's Most Beautiful Bad Woman

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

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Angel of Death

Dulcie Markham, Australia's Most Beautiful Bad Woman

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

This is the story of Dulcie Markham, a key figure of the underworld of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, who, according to one crime reporter, 'saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia's history'. Nicknamed the 'Black Widow' and 'Angel of Death' by the crooks, reporters and police who knew her best, Dulcie's lovers were stabbed and gunned down in the most violent years of Australian crime, the 1920s to the 1950s. Not always by her ...

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Page Count

355

Published Date

ISBN 10

0369303857

ISBN 13

9780369303851

Angel of Death

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

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Angel of Death

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

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361

Published Date

ISBN 10

0369306651

ISBN 13

9780369306654

The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944

The Summer That Changed Everything

By: Leigh Straw

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The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944

The Summer That Changed Everything

By: Leigh Straw

The Kennedys had long considered their home in Hyannis Port, 'The big white house', to be a haven from their busy lives. Yet in the summer of 1944, against the backdrop of WWII, the events that unfolded for them there would change the family forever. Beginning its story in the May of that year, The Kennedys at Cape Cod 1944 paints an intimate picture of those few months. As the younger Kennedy children and their parents settled into their summer refuge at Hyannis Port, this book follows the scandal of Kick's marriage to William 'Billy' Cavendish, Jack's recovery from injury sustained in the line of duty, and Joe Jr's secret bombing missions over Europe. Exploring the innermost hopes, fears and anxieties of each Kennedy as these events played out over the summer, it concludes with the event that would change them forever; the tragic death of Joe Jr. Offering a close account of the months leading up to this momentous moment, The Kennedys at Cape Cod 1944 gives an unparalleled understanding of how the Kennedys experienced this 'turn in the road' that moved the limelight onto the next brother, Jack, and changed the course of American political history.

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Bloomsbury Academic

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350512583

ISBN 13

9781350512580

Sophia Lane

By: Leigh Straw

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Sophia Lane

By: Leigh Straw

Eastern Sydney in the 1920s. Slumland streets controlled by two women - crime bosses Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine. Lyndsey Collier, an ambitious country girl, joins the Women's Police. As her work draws her into Sydney's underworld, Lyndsey discovers a greater threat than the criminals she is investigating. Betrayed by a corrupt police officer, Lyndsey escapes into the shadows of underworld Sydney to protect the man she loves. A lifetime away and nearing death, Lyndsey begins to tell her story to Abigail Hollingsworth, a nurse at Kirkland Home for the Elderly. As she is caught up in the tale, Abby must also confront her own troubled marriage. A gritty, haunting story of loss and regret and of a love that brings together two women generations apart.

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232

Published Date

ISBN 10

1849211523

ISBN 13

9781849211529

Sophia Lane

By: Leigh Straw

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Sophia Lane

By: Leigh Straw

Sophia Lane is a haunting tale of loss and regret and a love that brings together two women generations apart. An Author's Note places this story firmly in the history of the Sydney badlands

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218

Published Date

ISBN 10

1849212031

ISBN 13

9781849212038

Legacy

By: Leigh Straw

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Legacy

By: Leigh Straw

A brutal killing and a secret hidden for fifty years. Kathryn Kelly, historian and archivist, is planning a WWII exhibition at Verity Library. Her latest acquisition contains private journals from a recently deceased veteran. It should be a day like any other. What Kathryn discovers in the journals will change her life and threaten everyone close to her. Kathryn has uncovered the truth behind the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963. She knows the identity of the second shooter on the grassy knoll. Was it the CIA, the Mafia, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, the Cubans, the Russians or others? Legacy is a powerful thriller that reveals a shocking twist in the assassination of President Kennedy. It will make you question everything you thought you knew about JFK's assassination.

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322

Published Date

ISBN 10

0987384104

ISBN 13

9780987384102

Drunks, Pests and Harlots

Criminal Women in Perth and Fremantle, 1900-1939

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

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Drunks, Pests and Harlots

Criminal Women in Perth and Fremantle, 1900-1939

By: Leigh S. L. Straw

Esther Warden was the 'terror' of West End Fremantle and the most dangerous woman in Western Australia. Lilly Doyle kept company with thieves and rogues and was listed as an 'undesirable'. May Ahern was a 'fallen' woman who lured men into dark street corners, tempting them away from the paths of virtue. Esther, Lilly and May were notorious female criminals in early twentieth-century Perth and Fremantle. Criminalised as drunks, prostitutes and vagrants, women committing offences against good order faced a double punishment for their social and gender transgressions. 'Drunks, Pests and Harlots' takes a trip through the underworld streets of Perth and Fremantle from 1900-1939. It offers a glimpse into the lives of criminal women facing close police surveillance, negative media coverage, strict incarceration and institutionalisation. These lives present historical perspectives on female offenders and the development of public critiques of women who fail to meet the expectations of society.

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Page Count

260

Publisher

Zeticula

Published Date

ISBN 10

1846220424

ISBN 13

9781846220425

Book's by LEIGH. STRAW

The Ballroom Murder

The Ballroom Murder

The Petticoat Parade

The Petticoat Parade

Angel Of Death

Angel Of Death

Lillian Armfield

Lillian Armfield

After the War

After the War

Angel of Death

Angel of Death

Angel of Death

Angel of Death

The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944

The Kennedys at Cape Cod, 1944

Sophia Lane

Sophia Lane

Sophia Lane

Sophia Lane

Legacy

Legacy

Drunks, Pests and Harlots

Drunks, Pests and Harlots

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