Inspirada en un suceso real acontecido en 1924 en Inglaterra y que la prensa bautizó como "El asesinato de la granja avícola", esta obra se adentra en la psicología humana y en las extrañas circunstancias de un crimen que conmovería a la opinión pública británica y que, hasta el día de hoy, sigue lleno de sombras respecto a la culpabilidad del acusado más allá de toda duda razonable.

A quite lengthy novella. Based on a true case from 1924 when Norman Thorne was convicted of murdering his fiance Elsie Cameron.

To the end Norman swore that he had found Elsie dead, hanging in his shack. His conviction was based on the testimony of Sir Bernard Spilsbury.

Minette Walters has reconstructed evidence over their four year courtship when Elsie had tried to bring on the marriage by claiming she was pregnant. Norman always said she couldn't be and eventually the autopsy showed that she wasn't ( )

Minette Walters has written over a dozen crime novels. Her “Quick Reads” novella is based on the real life case of Elsie Cameron, a young pregnant woman who was supposedly killed by her boyfriend, chicken farmer Norman Thorne who was hanged for the murder in 1924. Walters recreates the events leading up to the crime.

This novella, like the other “Quick Reads” books, focuses on a fast moving plot. Interestingly however, Walters manages to develop strong characters. Because the reader is given the perspective of both Elsie and Norman, he/she comes to know both people in the relationship. We can sympathize with both Elsie’s fear of “being left on the shelf – unwanted and unloved” and the feelings of Norman, “a church-going boy of nineteen who was both flattered and trapped by Elsie’s devotion.”

Though the vocabulary is relatively simple, the book does not insult the reader’s intelligence. It raises some interesting and important issues: Would Elsie have been diagnosed with a mental illness if she had lived today? Would the case have had a different outcome if it were tried today? Was the death penalty appropriate?

This book may have been intended to appeal to reluctant readers, but I think it would be appropriate for anyone who has only a little time to devote to reading.

Please check out my reader's blog: http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/ ( )

Minette Walters beschäftigt sich in "Der Schrei des Hahns" mit einer wahren Geschichte, die sie bis zum Verschwinden der Hauptperson anschaulich darstellt. Anstatt dem Leser jedoch auch einen Einblick in den Prozeß und die Reaktionen auf das Urteil zu geben, erscheint das Ende relativ abgehackt. ( )

Inspirada en un suceso real acontecido en 1924 en Inglaterra y que la prensa bautizó como "El asesinato de la granja avícola", esta obra se adentra en la psicología humana y en las extrañas circunstancias de un crimen que conmovería a la opinión pública británica y que, hasta el día de hoy, sigue lleno de sombras respecto a la culpabilidad del acusado más allá de toda duda razonable.