Ian Radforth

Ian Radforth, Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario that Gripped the World. University of Toronto Press, 2024.

The Ontario Clio committee had a difficult decision to make this year with a variety of excellent works submitted. Each committee member’s shortlist included Ian Radforth’s masterful work, Deadly Swindle: An 1890 Murder in Backwoods Ontario That Gripped the World. At its centre the book examines the brutal murder of Englishman Frederick Cornwallis Benwall in the swamps of Oxford County and the subsequent investigation of the heinous crime by local and provincial authorities that soon focused their attentions on con artist and swindler Reginald Birchall. In a case that spanned three countries Radforth’s work skillfully draws the reader into the complexities of law, social regulation, gender, and politics, that informed this legal drama. He reminds us that this was a case that garnered international attention resulting in a media circus as reporters telegraphed developments during both the investigation and subsequent trial to a voracious reading public on both sides of the North Atlantic. Radforth’s work is grounded in incomparable archival work, and a careful analysis of the local, national, and international press reports. The result is a fresh, academically rigorous, and engaging retelling of a story that has captured the interest of generations for more than a century and a quarter.