| Title | : | Death of an Actress: A true story of sex, lies and murder on the high seas (Cold Case Jury Collection Book 2) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | Published March 12, 2018 |
Death of an Actress: A true story of sex, lies and murder on the high seas (Cold Case Jury Collection Book 2) Reviews
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3.5 stars - Misadventure. Manslaughter. Murder. What will your verdict be?
In Death of an Actress, Brown has presented the case of Eileen (Gay) Gibson, an actress who died aboard the Durban Castle. Consisting of reconstructions based on the actual evidence from the case, this is an interesting read; interesting because this isn’t a black and white case, it’s clouded with grey areas, and this requires you to examine the evidence and deicide the most likely course of events. We know the verdict, in real life, was guilty, but as you read this book, you’ll see many factors that really make you wonder what actually occurred on that fateful day Gay died. Without fail, you can see Brown has done his research, and provided you with a comprehensive account.
The fun thing about this book is you can decide how you read it – all the exhibits/evidence are at the back of the book, so you can be a “proper” juror, and when an exhibit is mentioned you can examine it there and then by flipping to the back of the book. Or you can read the entire book then spend some time examining the exhibits at the end; the book reads fluidly either way because Brown gives you enough information about the exhibits, within the reconstruction, for you to understand the story. The pieces of evidence I found most interesting, I flipped straight to the back of the book for, but otherwise I examined all the evidence at the end.
What’s great about the case Brown chose to write about is the uncertainty it contains. He provides you with all the available evidence, those that lean towards guilt and those that lean towards innocence and it really is up to you to make the decision. Brown also offers his verdict and that of others who have cast a verdict. But you’ve taken an oath, do not allow them to sway your decision, because reading this book and deciding the verdict is only the first part. The second part is going online to actually cast your vote – how cool is that!?! Reading this book makes you a member of the Cold Case Jury, so you can cast your verdict on the website, and then you can view the collective verdict of all the Cold Case Jury members.
With this book, Brown has created a fun way for readers to learn about cold cases, and I look forward to the next one.
*My thanks to Mirror Books for providing me with a copy of this book* -
October, 1947 - twenty-one-year-old actress, Eileen 'Gay' Gibson is travelling to England from South Africa onboard a luxury liner. One evening, about halfway into the two week voyage, Gay finishes her evening meal & drinks & is escorted back to her cabin by the two men who ate at the same table. This has been their routine every evening to ensure Gay reaches her cabin safely as the ship is only half full & many cabins, including the two opposite Gay, are unoccupied. She is seen on deck by a couple of staff members later on in the early hours but this is apparently not unusual as the weather is too hot to sleep. The next morning, the stewardess goes to Gay's room with her morning orange juice but Gay is not there. Thinking she is probably bathing, the stewardess tidies up a little & then leaves, but when she hears that Gay did not appear for breakfast, she returns to Gay's room but it is still empty. A search ensues but no-one seems to have seen the actress since the early hours. The Captain orders for the ship to reverse course & puts out a distress message that a passenger is believed to have gone overboard. She is never found.
A member of the crew reports that he saw a man in Gay's cabin when he went to investigate the steward call button being pressed, but he was prevented from entering the cabin by the man (who he only saw from the back), & identifies him as Deck Steward, James Camb. Camb was a notorious womanizer onboard, frequently seeking out young, attractive, female passengers travelling alone & the beautiful actress would have been a target for him. When the ship reaches England, Camb is arrested & confesses to disposing of Gay's body out of the cabin porthole, but he is adamant that he didn't kill her - she died during intercourse & he panicked. However Camb is found guilty of murder & is lucky not to hang. Over the years various people have propounded theories of what happened - here is the chance for the reader to make up their own mind.
Well this was a bit different! Split into 3 sections with the first giving the background of the case & the main players with alternative scenarios of what could have happened. The second section details the evidence of the case (due to the date of when this happened, physical evidence was thin on the ground) which is mostly transcripts of interviews with people who knew James Camb & those who knew Gay Gibson. As with today, the character of the victim was very much investigated & pulled to pieces in the media, whilst possibly prejudicial previous complaints against Camb were not heard during the case.
At the end of the second section, the reader can register their decision online as to whether they believe, based on the evidence, that Camb was guilty of misadventure, guilty of murder, or guilty of manslaughter. The third section then gives the author's view of what they think happened & it pretty much tallied with mine. Now the reconstructions may have been slightly melodramatic in parts, but I thought it was an intriguing way to approach a true crime case without being ghoulish. Apparently there are several other books in the series, & I plan on reading those too. -
3.5 stars
Interesting concept where the author Antony Brown selects cold cases, so far both British and from the early 20th century, and invites the reader to pass judgement as a jury would. There is also a website where the reader can “cast their vote” as a member of the jury panel on one of the three scenarios depicted in the books.
Death of an Actress is a well-researched and well-presented account of the death of Eileen (Gay) Gibson. The perpetrator was identified, convicted and imprisoned for the crime but there was lingering doubt as to whether it was murder or death by natural causes. The perpetrator, James Camb, contributed to this doubt by disposing of the body overboard and thereby eliminating a true cause of death.
An easy and enjoyable read. I look forward to more in this series from An tony Brown. -
How do you determine cause of death and whether foul play was involved with no body to examine? In the case of Gay Gibson this was exactly the problem however, based on circumstantial evidence alone James Camb was convicted of her murder. In a historical true crime case, actress Gay Gibson was travelling back to the UK from South Africa on the ocean liner Durban Castle when she mysteriously disappeared. A confession from deckhand James Camb that she was indeed dead after dying suddenly in his arms in her cabin the previous evening also included the chilling details of how, in a panic, he pushed her body through the porthole and out into the sea.
In Death of an Actress, author Antony Matthew Brown examines this case, the evidence available and the key witness statements and asks; did Gay Gibson die of natural causes as Camb claimed or did he murder her?
A fascinating read on an intriguing case which will have you asking questions all the way through. If you like true crime and enjoy solving mysteries, this is the book for you.
Read my full review of Death of an Actress on
Crime Traveller at:
http://www.crimetraveller.org/2016/12... -
In 1947, a young (and unknown) actress, Gay Gibson sailed from Johannesburg to Southampton. Except she never actually reached her destination. One night she disappeared and foul play was immediately suspected. A particularly amorous stewards was questioned, but it was the answers he gave when back on shore in Britain which really shocked and launched this case into the public imagination.
It’s seventy years since all this happened and so it’s not surprising that the story has slipped from the public imagination. (I had never heard of it.) Anthony M. Brown does a good, if unfussy job of placing the details of the case before us, and his matter of fact tone – if anything – makes the whole seem all the more eyebrow raising. It could have been melodramatic, but instead it seems coldly brutal.
The conceit of this book (and the others in the series, so it seems) is that the evidence is put in front of the reader who can then decide whether he or she thinks the accused is indeed guilty of the crime. If I’m honest, I think Brown is probably trying to sway the jury a little towards one particular theory, but this is still an entertaining and informative read of a forgotten part of British history. -
I generally don’t read True Crime stories as I am terrible at keeping track of characters and non-fiction tends to have a larger list of people, places, names and other important details which it is very important to keep track of. Also I like knowing that the horrible things I usually read about are all just made up, when it becomes REAL I get uncomfortable. The psychologists can have some fun with that last confession!
So how did I get on with Death of an Actress? I will be honest and confess that I rather enjoyed it. Quite a lot as it turns out.
This is the second book in Antony M Brown’s Cold Case Jury collection. A real life crime is presented to the reader. Through disclosure of facts, compilation of official documents presented in the real life court cases and some dramatic recreations of events penned by the author the reader gets the case compiled for their consideration.
The twist which I loved was that once you have read the book you visit the Cold Case website and cast your own vote as to how you felt the accused should have been charged. I cast my own verdict on Death of an Actress just before I started writing this review. Unsurprisingly I did not side with the most popular verdict.
Death of an Actress recounts the murder of Gay Gibson, a young rising star of the stage who was traveling from South Africa back to Southampton on luxury liner Durban Castle. One night Miss Gibson vanished from her cabin and her body was never found. A crew member, James Camb, was suspected of her murder – he had a reputation for pressing his advances upon single female passengers and had taken a shine to young Gay.
Antony M Brown will introduce readers to Gay Gibson and guide us through her young life and explore her character. He considers Camb and his reputation and status among the crew of the Durban Castle. He then uses dramatic recreations to explore the last days of Gay Gibson’s life. Using witness statements, news paper reports and other primary source material we get a great insight of life on board the Durban Castle for those important days after the ship left South Africa.
The fun in reading Death of an Actress is absorbing the information provided, forming your own assessment of the behaviours of Camb and Gibson and then working out if the arrest, and trial, of James Camb for Miss Gibson’s murder was correct or if some important facts were not given proper consideration.
I must admit I was caught up in the details of the case. I knew I was going to cast my own verdict on events when I finished the book so I was paying close attention (most unlike me). I was shocked by some of the omissions from the court case and I got sidetracked from fact by some “additional” detail which was included after the main case had been discussed, unverified recollections of stories overheard but which had potential to change the nature of the trial.
All very interesting and very well constructed by the author. Some readers may quibble that a dramatic recreation of conversations which the author could not have possibly have overhead have no place in a true crime book. Personally I really enjoyed the switch from hard facts to the authors own interpretation of possible scenarios – it opened up my own imagination to what may have occurred.
A very welcome change to my normal choice of book. I may even read another True Crime book soon…particularly as I cannot help but notice this was the second case for the Cold Case Jury. The first book has the intriguing title The Green Bicycle Mystery. -
Time taken to read - 1 day
Pages -
Publisher - Mirror Books
Blurb from Goodreads
Published in time for the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic trials in British criminal history.
DEATH OF AN ACTRESS is the second in the Cold Case Jury Collection, a unique series of true crime titles. Each case study tells the story of an unsolved crime, or one in which the verdict is open to doubt. Fresh evidence is presented and the reader is invited to deliver their own verdict.
October 1947. A luxury liner steams over the equator off the coast of West Africa and a beautiful actress disappears from her cabin. Suspicion falls on a dashing deck steward with a reputation for entering the cabins of female passengers. When the liner docks at Southampton, the steward is questioned by police. Protesting his innocence, he makes an astonishing admission that shocks everyone, and is charged with murder. His trial at the historic Great Hall in Winchester draws the world's media. He is found guilty and sentenced to hang.
But was the verdict sound?
Many believe not.
Now for the first time, Antony M. Brown has secured unprecedented access to the police file, enabling the definitive story to be told. Included in the file are original court exhibits, including a hairbrush with strands of the actress's red hair. Could a personal effect left behind in her cabin provide clues to how she might have died? Take your seat on the Cold Case Jury...
Blurb from Goodreads
So I do read and watch true crime stuff and was surprised I had never heard of this, apparently it made the news at the time it all happenes. In the 1940s an actress went missing on a luxury liner where she was travelling as a first class passenger. Brown investigates, adds his own thoughts amongst that which he reports. Included in the book is a website you can visit after reading the book to cast your vote on what you think actually happened.
Without giving spoilers, Brown includes all the information that is public so by search you can quickly find the court ruling for this case. Brown also includes unseen evidence, information and statements that hadn't previously been released and how he came to have access to them.
Brown gives accounts of what could have happened given the information available, statements made by passengers, facts and speculation, all of which he highlights which is which. It is an interesting case, no doubt about it and raises questions to why things processed or where omitted in the investigation. Photographs are included in the book, verbatim statements/accounts and descriptions of the actresses quarters as well as a layout of the boat. This is the second book by this author in the cold case files, I enjoyed the writing, the subject matter and him giving thoughts on all possibilities rather than only his opinion on what happened. I also like the fact you can visit the website after, whilst I expected it to be more than what is offered I did find it a good wee add on. The chapters are relatively short which I always like however in this case even more so because when you finish a chapter you can put the book down to read up on that part/facts then go back to it. 3.5/5 stars for me this time, I liked it, this is my first dance with this author, it won't be my last, I have already looked into the first book in the series to buy! If you have read it, what do you think actually happened, which theory do you thinks better? -
I love true crime, strange but true and I am not the only one. True crime documentaries, books and the newer podcasts attract a huge audience.
This book belongs to the Cold Case Jury Crime Collection, where the author researches an old case. The book is split into three sections, the case, the evidence and the verdict. This book looks in to the 1947 death of Gay Gibson, an actress whose body was put thrown through a porthole whilst travelling from South Africa to England.
I had never heard of this case before so it was an interesting read. James Camb was charged with her murder but is the case as straight forward as it seems.
The book tells the story of the last few days of Gay’s life and the incidents that led upto her death. There is so much information contained along with photographs of the scene, evidence and some of the witnesses. There is extensive trial information along with extensive list of exhibits.
What I really liked is that after you have read the book you can go to the website
http://www.coldcasejury.com and place your own verdict. You can also see how other people have voted.
This series is a must for true crime fans and I can not wait to read the other books in the series -
Really enjoy these Cold Case Jury books. They are not straight narrative accounts. You get a narrative account, then you get the evidence marshalled, then a summing up. So it is aimed at those who would like to be on “the jury” and give a verdict on what are usually solved crimes with highly murky circumstances or unsolved crimes. The author picks his cases well - the mystery element is firmly embedded - and he does his research well too. Highly readable in style, they can tip towards “fictionalised” in some of the scenarios, but purely I think to bring the scene alive for readers in trying to picture what happened. It’s fun to vote for the verdict and see what others have made of it.
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Absolutely fabulous.
I enjoy true crime and being walked through the scenarios and all the evidence was fantastic.
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Spoilers
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I decided manslaughter before I read the authors verdict. I believe he sexually assaulted/raped Gay, resulting in her heart to fail and for him to push her out the window. A very idiotic and egotistical man indeed. It’s a shame he didn’t get the death-penalty. I really wish he did. Especially as he tried to assault three, eleven-year-old girls in his 60s. Disgusting.
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I will be buying this authors other books and similar books also as this book has inspired me to do so.
Please write more of them! -
I'm the author, so my five-star rating is not objective! However, of all the cases so far in the Cold Case Jury collection, I have a personal connection to this case. Not only did the famous trial take place in my hometown, but I am the only author to have had access to the police file, meaning I was able to tell the full story for the first time. At the time of writing, there is a clear verdict but it is not quite a majority. Thank you to everyone who has delivered their verdict at the Cold Case Jury website. AMB.
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Time taken to read - 1 day
Pages - 300
Publisher - Mirror Books
Blurb from Goodreads
Published in time for the 70th anniversary of one of the most dramatic trials in British criminal history.
DEATH OF AN ACTRESS is the second in the Cold Case Jury Collection, a unique series of true crime titles. Each case study tells the story of an unsolved crime, or one in which the verdict is open to doubt. Fresh evidence is presented and the reader is invited to deliver their own verdict.
October 1947. A luxury liner steams over the equator off the coast of West Africa and a beautiful actress disappears from her cabin. Suspicion falls on a dashing deck steward with a reputation for entering the cabins of female passengers. When the liner docks at Southampton, the steward is questioned by police. Protesting his innocence, he makes an astonishing admission that shocks everyone, and is charged with murder. His trial at the historic Great Hall in Winchester draws the world's media. He is found guilty and sentenced to hang.
But was the verdict sound?
Many believe not.
Now for the first time, Antony M. Brown has secured unprecedented access to the police file, enabling the definitive story to be told. Included in the file are original court exhibits, including a hairbrush with strands of the actress's red hair. Could a personal effect left behind in her cabin provide clues to how she might have died? Take your seat on the Cold Case Jury...
Blurb from Goodreads
So I do read and watch true crime stuff and was surprised I had never heard of this, apparently it made the news at the time it all happenes. In the 1940s an actress went missing on a luxury liner where she was travelling as a first class passenger. Brown investigates, adds his own thoughts amongst that which he reports. Included in the book is a website you can visit after reading the book to cast your vote on what you think actually happened.
Without giving spoilers, Brown includes all the information that is public so by search you can quickly find the court ruling for this case. Brown also includes unseen evidence, information and statements that hadn't previously been released and how he came to have access to them.
Brown gives accounts of what could have happened given the information available, statements made by passengers, facts and speculation, all of which he highlights which is which. It is an interesting case, no doubt about it and raises questions to why things processed or where omitted in the investigation. Photographs are included in the book, verbatim statements/accounts and descriptions of the actresses quarters as well as a layout of the boat. This is the second book by this author in the cold case files, I enjoyed the writing, the subject matter and him giving thoughts on all possibilities rather than only his opinion on what happened. I also like the fact you can visit the website after, whilst I expected it to be more than what is offered I did find it a good wee add on. The chapters are relatively short which I always like however in this case even more so because when you finish a chapter you can put the book down to read up on that part/facts then go back to it. 3.5/5 stars for me this time, I liked it, this is my first dance with this author, it won't be my last, I have already looked into the first book in the series to buy! If you have read it, what do you think actually happened, which theory do you thinks better? -
Found this book rather interesting at the start but sadly found it to be drawn out towards the end. But that's not to say somebody else would not enjoy it is a very informative and well researched book. And gives the reader a fascinating look at a cold case it also gives the reader the chance to form their own opinion as to happen to Guy Gibson on the fatal night of October 1947 abound the Durban Castle.
