Brno Murders

Thirty True Cases That Shocked the First Republic

Who drowned the defenceless boy in the Jihlava river? Was the young man in the forest near Jehnice an unhappy Romeo, or the cruel murderer of his young sweetheart? Why did attractive Brno beauties turn to crime, their cases filling courtrooms and the contemporary press to bursting point? Who murdered for property and what did the lecherous priest do to earn public contempt? Why did a gang of marriage swindlers eliminate poor old spinsters? All the stories in this book took place about a hundred years ago, as did the devastating explosions that ravaged the city full of factories and explosives warehouses. Murders were committed under the influence of wartime poverty, alcohol, gambling, personal misfortune, madness, or wild prostitution... Each of the stories became a sensation of its time. Ballads were sung about the quadruple murder near Křtiny, and others served as the subject of separate books. And the most famous story of all, about the outlaw Nikola Šuhaj, happened differently from how it was portrayed by Ivan Olbracht or Brno's Theatre on a String...

The thirty most-watched cases of the period are accompanied by photographs, documents and courtroom sketches.