![]() |
An impressive series from Eaglemoss, rising to the challenge of Murder Casebook from Marshall Cavendish and 'Unsolved' from Orbis. This formula, though mostly involving murders, allowed the publishers to go beyond a single crime. Hence, the Great Train Robbery, in which no one died, gets good coverage. It also enabled them to include fascinating sections on police forensic and other detection methods.
How could the publishers have known in 1993 that the country would be rocked the following year by discovery in Gloucester of the most horrific murder scene in over a century? Or that attention would soon turn to Britiain's worst serial killer, Dr Harold Shipman? Or that the inexplicable murder of popular TV presenter Jill Dando would mystify millions of her admirers? The opportunity - and challenge - led them to re-launch the RLC series with a new numbering system and all the most sensational crimes near the beginning of the new release. The format was updated and even the binders changed slightly. Therefore, it's important, when seeking individual issues from this series, to know which release you need.
The second (2003) release is listed here. We originally listed the first release here too, but it became confusing so we created a new section and called this Real Life Crimes 2. The first release issues are in a red cover with a plain outline issue number, the second are red, blue or light brown with a fingerprint below the issue number. Very occasionally, the numbering of issues overlaps between releases.
Updated September 2011