🔎Today I'm celebrating my 100th post on my Substack, The Detective's Notebook. Huge thanks to all my fabulous readers – I love sharing my work with you! If you're interested in true crime, Victorian detectives and the history of forensic science, do check it out 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com

This evening I’ve been doing some family history and I was very excited to discover a miller in my tree - my 5 x great-grandfather,Thomas Potter, in Strelley, Notts.

I came across this case of a fake detective, in the Manchester Courier from November 1900, which really made me smile.

🔎This week in my Substack newsletter, The Detective's Notebook', I'm investigating the Whitechapel murders of 1888. In today's post, I've been examining the possible victims of 'Jack the Ripper', including the 'canonical five' 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/the-victim...

We had an early morning visitor in London.

I recreated the scene (of my great-grandmother at Blackpool) a century later.

Heading to Blackpool today with my sister. Hoping we’ll enjoy it more than our great-grandmother did.

🔎 For my paying subscribers (thank you!) on Substack, I like to delve deeper into my work as a crime historian and this week I revealed some of the extraordinary crime-related artefacts I've discovered in the archives. 🔗 You can read a free preview here: drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/secret-art...

While I was in Lancaster last week visiting my son, I went to the Old Pier Bookshop in Morecambe for the first time. It is an amazing place stuffed full of thousands of books on labyrinthine shelving. I picked up some true crime books to add to my collection.

🔍This morning I enjoyed a fascinating tour of the 150 Years of the Crime Museum exhibition, at the Metropolitan Police Museum. There were lots of interesting artefacts from historical crime cases to show how detection and forensic science have been used to solve crime over the decades. A must see!

🔍✨ New post alert! Detective History in 10 Objects – a fascinating dive into the everyday tools used by early police detectives to develop their sleuthing skills🕵️‍♂️ 👉 Read it here: drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/detective-... #History #Victoriandetectives #ObjectsThatTellStories

I’d love to go back to Cairo now the Grand Museum is finally open www.bbc.com/news/article...

🎃 My favourite spooky crime-related object is the hand of glory, which was made from the dried hand of a hanged criminal and used as a magic tool by thieves to enter a property by rendering the occupants immobile. It could also unlock doors. This one is from the Whitby Museum. Happy Halloween!

🕷️The Isle of Wight is full of surpirses! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🎃I had a great evening at the Bermondsey and Rotherhithe Local History Society, talking about my book, the Bermondsey Murder, for a special Halloween meeting.

In a pub in Lancaster watching the football. Well, everyone else is…

🔎Today in The Confidential Files (for paid subs) I take a deeper look at the investigation into the murder of bookseller Edward Moyse in 1895. My study reveals that detectives used a range of sleuthing strategies, including a rather unorthodox ID parade 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/investigat...

I do like a ghost story, especially when it’s linked to a historic building 🔗 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I love this! Agatha Christie meets Mr Men in new children's books www.bbc.com/news/article...

I’m trying to read all the books in the Inspector Maigret series, and this is the next one on my shelf.

I finally managed to get out for a walk this morning, between rain showers. I love passing through the local churchyard especially as the seasons change.

This is very interesting (especially as it is about my home city) and it’s a reminder that we need to question firsthand historical accounts. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

🔎This week in The Detective's Notebook is an investigation into the brutal murder of Edward Moyse, a bookseller from Liverpool, which reveals the sleuthing skills of the late-Victorian police detectives who used a variety of strategies to solve the case 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/death-of-a...

I had a great time yesterday evening talking to members of @bifhsgo.bsky.social about how to find the criminal ancestors in your family tree. They were a lovely audience and we had a lively debate about crime, punishment and some stranger-than-fiction family stories.

How swear words differ around the world www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

My favourite Halloween post box topper so far. Spotted in Gurnard, IOW.

🦕 We have dinosaur footprints also on the Isle of Wight and it’s always amazing to see them when the tide is out. www.bbc.co.uk/news/resourc...

I had a wonderful day at the Isle of Wight Lit Fest interviewing fantastic crime fiction writers, Graham Bartlett, Martin Edwards and Vaseem Khan. We had great fun!

🔍 As a followup to this week's investigation into the mysterious death of Charles Bravo of antimony poisoning in 1876, my latest post (paid subs) is a closer examination of the three prime suspects and the opinion of Agatha Christie on this complex case 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/who-killed...

✒️This week in The Detective's Notebook I'm investigating the mysterious death of Charles Bravo, who died from antimony poisoning at his home in Balham in 1876. There were three prime suspects: his wife Florence, her companion and her former lover 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/the-balham...

When I’m researching historical murders, I like to read old true crime books, which are good for interesting leads and information, (which I need to verify). For the Charles Bravo case, I’m reading this title by Yseult Bridges from 1956. I can’t wait to see what she made of this mysterious case…

For my next writing project, I'm investigating the mysterious death of Charles Bravo from antimony poisoning in 1876, for which there were three suspects. I've started by reading the reports of the inquest, which lasted 5 weeks. I'm halfway through and uncovering all kinds of fascinating details...

📢 I'm delighted to announce that a second anthology of Detective Jerome Caminada's memoirs are now available on Kindle (and KU), which includes fraudsters, arsonists, scuttlers, dynamite conspirators and an account of how he solved the Manchester Cab Mystery in record time 🔗 tinyurl.com/2sfm7duc

I’m really looking g forward to this!

I’m really looking forward to chatting to @gbpoliceadvisor.bsky.social about his fascinating work and excellent crime fiction.

Occasionally, when I need a break from screens (and the news!), I like to do a jigsaw. I bought this one at the Agatha Christie Festival and I really enjoyed piecing it together.

I had a wonderful time last night chatting with @lucindahawksley.bsky.social about Dickens and the detectives.

Today's the first day this week that I've managed to get to my desk to do some writing and I’m working on a case from Liverpool in 1895, in which bookseller Edward Moyse was brutally murdered. The only eyewitness was a young lad who was also an intended victim of the killer. Here’s the crime scene.

In my latest post for The Detective's Notebook, I'm offering a free copy of my edited anthology of Manchester's Sherlock Holmes Detective Jerome Caminada's first volume of memoirs to all paid subscribers 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/detective-...

Brading Roman Villa was looking stunning in the glorious sunshine today. It’s such a lovely place to attend trustee meetings.

I couldn’t resist buying these two brand new volumes of short stories during my Agatha Christie weekend.

I had a wonderful time at @agathafestival.bsky.social - fantastic talks from Kemper Donovan, Dr John Curran, @victoriadowd.bsky.social, David Brawn and a fabulous evening at a LIVE recording of @christietime.bsky.social with @markaldridge.info and Gray Robert Brown. A great weekend!

It was great to visit Agatha Christie’s home, Greenway, again this morning, despite the rain.

I love coming across blue plaques as I wander about, and I’ve just spotted this one on the side of the Torbay Hotel.

Happy to be hanging out with the Queen of Crime.

I’m getting ready to travel to Torquay for this year’s @agathafestival.bsky.social which I’m really looking forward to! 🔗 www.iacf-uk.org

My daughter bought me a ‘sopa de letras’ book on her recent trip to Spain, and it’s proving to be an excellent way to improve my vocabulary!

This week's posts in The Detective's Notebook cover my work on Manchester's Sherlock Holmes, Jerome Caminada, who is still my favourite Victorian police detective. You can find out about his crime-busting career here 🔗 drangelabuckley.substack.com/p/manchester...

It was great to be back at the Society of Genealogists today, where I gave a talk on crime and policing in Victorian London.

If you're looking for some escapism from this terrible world, I highly recommend @drangelabuckley.bsky.social's substack on the history of crime, policing, and forensics. Who doesn't want to read about "death by chloroform?"