Author and retired police chief Tom Wood’s book on a barbaric murder which shocked the nation is to made into a podcast and could he heading for a limited television series.
Ruxton: The First Modern Murder is said to be the case which laid down the foundations for forensic science which to this day still influence police investigations around the world.
The book, published by Ringwood Publishing, has been snapped up by US multimedia production company Paperclip who are to produce an unscripted podcast and limited scripted (television) series.
Paperclip was founded by actress Yeardley Smith – the voice of The Simpsons middle daughter Lisa – and film producer Ben Cornwall, and whose flagship true-crime podcast Small Town Dicks, about big time crime in small town America, nets 1 million downloads per month.
Smith and Cornwall will executive-produce the podcast with the former Depute Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, whose other books include the infamous World’s End Murders.
Yeardley Smith said: “Tom is a master storyteller and with Ruxton he’s deftly made the history of modern forensics read like a true-crime thriller. I can’t wait for audiences to hear the podcast.”
Tom Wood added: “I am delighted to be working with Yeardley, Ben and the team at Paperclip in the development of Ruxton. This is an important story which it has been my privilege to tell. It deserves the widest audience, and a podcast with the team that brought the world Small Town Dicks is a great place to start.”
Ruxton charts the brutal 1935 murder of Isabella Buxton and her maid Mary Rogerson by Bella’s GP husband Dr Buck Ruxton, who used his medical knowledge to dismember his victims and later discarded the body parts 100 miles away from the crime scene in a tranquil part of the Scottish Borders.
Only the brilliance of Scottish scientists and determined police officers brought Ruxton to trial and led him to the gallows in a case which established many ground-breaking forensic techniques which are still in common use today in criminal investigations,
- Ruxton: The First Modern Murder by Tom Wood is available from Ringwood Publishing and Amazon.
Main photo by Jim Mackintosh.
Stephen Rafferty is a former crime correspondent at The Scotsman and was a staff reporter for the Daily Record and Edinburgh Evening News. He has freelanced for many of the Scottish and UK national newspaper titles. Got a story? Get in touch - stephen@theedinburghreporter.co.uk
