BLOODY VERSICLES: The Rhymes of Crime

The title derives from William Roughead and he would have enjoyed this undertaking -- a collection of ""crhymes"" from broadsheet ballads and the popular literature of the limes or from just some nameless poetaster. The circumstances which provoked them are presented by Mr. Goodman; the misdemeanors are categorized (blunt instruments; poisons; knives; etc.); there are illustrations -- facsimiles of posters and contemporary drawings; and while most of these are drawn from that old Baileywick, they range to the lynching lament -- ""Strange Fruit"" -- or the Hauptman kidnapping -- ""You deserve all you've got/ For stealing the baby from its cot."" An eclectic entertainment; you might want to give it forty licks.