H.B. Irving decided not to use his legal education to practice law, and instead spent his time between acting roles during a successful career o the stage chronicling these remarkable criminals. Included in this volume are ten infamous characters who made headlines in their day, including Charles Peace, Robert Butler, M. Derues, Dr. Castaing, Professor Webster, the mysterious Mr. Holmes, the Widow Gras, Vitalis and Marie Boyer, the Fenayrou case, and Eyraud & Bompard. Irving includes complete details about the crimes, court cases, and ultimate downfalls, also discussing their behavior during the interval between their condemnation and their execution The reader will especially enjoy the author's extensive Introduction, in which he mentions many of the remarkable criminals of the book, along with others, comparing them to famous fictitious and real criminals that have appeared from Shakespeare's time to Irving's current days in the early twentieth century.