The Friday Murder Club

The Friday Murder Club

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The art of misdirection

Sophie Michell's avatar
Sophie Michell
Mar 06, 2026
∙ Paid

As you’ll have seen, I passed my viva last week. Enormous thanks again to my examiners, Rosalind Crone and Daniel Grey, and thanks to my supervisors and my friends for trying to keep me sane in the run-up. It’s a hell of a high.

TOMORROW, I will be at Peterborough Museum with Peterborough Women’s History Group, talking about the women who made the city. Our panel is 2-3pm but there are events at the museum all day.

I’ll be speaking at Helpston Church about the railway at 7pm on 19th March, £3 entry.

I’ll also be speaking at the John Clare Theatre in Peterborough Library at 2:30pm on 22nd April. This talk is about life and death in Victorian Peterborough and is an attempt to cover everything from my thesis in 45 minutes! It is £5 entry and includes light refreshments beforehand.

You can track my events on my website.

After all that, it seems very odd to go straight into this week’s unbearably violent murder, where we go beyond the newspapers to find out what really happened in a field near Heckmondwike in 1868. Trigger warning for gore, and you know I don’t say that lightly.

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