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Handsome Brute

The True Story of a Ladykiller

About The Book

Handsome Bruteexplores the facts of a once-renowned, now little-remembered British murder case, the killings of the charming, but deadly ex-RAF playboy Neville Heath.

Since the 1940s, Heath has generally been dismissed as a sadistic sex-killer - the preserve of sensational Murder Anthologies - and little else. But the story behind the tabloid headlines reveals itself to be complex and ambiguous, provoking unsettling questions that echo across the decades to the present day.

Handsome Bruteis both an examination of the age of austerity, and a real-life

thriller as shocking and provocative as American Psycho or The Killer Inside Me, exploring the perspectives of the women in Heath's life - his wife, his mother, his lovers - and his victims. This collage of experiences from the women who knew him intimately probes the schism at the heart of his fascinating, chilling personality.

About The Author

SEAN O'CONNOR is a writer, director and producer working in theatre, radio, television and film. He has worked as showrunner on several
major TV series including EastEnders, Hollyoaks, Footballers’ Wives and Minder. He produced Terence Davies’ film version of Terence Rattigan’s
The Deep Blue Sea, starring Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston. He was also editor of The Archers for BBC Radio 4. For the theatre he adapted Boileau and Narcejac’s Vertigo and Winston Graham’s Marnie. His adaptation from Shakespeare, Juliet and Her Romeo, marked the re-opening of Bristol Old Vic, directed by Tom Morris, and was published by Oberon. Handsome Brute, a study of the 1940s murderer Neville Heath, and The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury were both published by Simon & Schuster. The Fatal Passion of Alma Rattenbury was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award in 2020.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (February 27, 2014)
  • Length: 480 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781471101359

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