“Imperia for the love shee beares to young Morosini, seduceth and causeth him (with his two Consorts, Astonicus, and Donato) to stifle to death her old Husband Palmerius in his bed; Morosini misfortunately letting fall his gloves in Palmerius his Chamber that night which hee did it, they are found by Richardo the Nephew of Palmerius, who knowes them to be Morosinies, and doth thereupon accuse him and his Aunt Imperia, for the murther of his Vncle; So they together with their accessaries Astonicus and Donato, are all foure of them apprehended and hanged for the same.”

Featured on PDR in the collection John Reynolds’ Book of Murder Tales (1621–1635)

We don’t know the year of John Reynolds’ birth or death, but according to the Dictionary of National Biography, he “flourished” between 1620 and 1640, at which time he must have been in his thirties and forties (give or take a few years). Born in Exeter — and known to his contemporaries as “John Reynolds, merchant of Exeter”, to distinguish him from other writers of the same name — he traveled on business to France, Spain, and probably Italy, where he collected the stories that make up his six-volume Triumphs of Gods Revenge and the Crying and Execrable Sin of (Wilful and Premeditated) Murther — one of the earliest examples of “true crime” writing in English.