Death in the Air

The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City

By: Kate Winkler Dawson

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

A real-life thriller in the vein of The Devil in the White City, Kate Winkler Dawson's debut Death in the Air is a gripping, historical narrative of a serial killer, an environmental disaster, and an iconic city struggling to regain its footing.

London was still recovering from the devastation of World War II when another disaster hit: for five long days in December 1952, a killer smog held the city firmly in its grip and refused to let go. Day became night, mass transit ground to a halt, criminals roamed the streets, and some 12,000 people died from the poisonous air. But in the chaotic aftermath, another killer was stalking the streets, using the fog as a cloak for his crimes.

All across London, women were going missing--poor women, forgotten women. Their disappearances caused little alarm, but each of them had one thing in common: they had the misfortune of meeting a quiet, unassuming man, John Reginald Christie, who invited them back to his decrepit Notting Hill flat during that dark winter. They never left.

The eventual arrest of the "Beast of Rillington Place" caused a media frenzy: were there more bodies buried in the walls, under the floorboards, in the back garden of this house of horrors? Was it the fog that had caused Christie to suddenly snap? And what role had he played in the notorious double murder that had happened in that same apartment building not three years before--a murder for which another, possibly innocent, man was sent to the gallows?

The Great Smog of 1952 remains the deadliest air pollution disaster in world history, and John Reginald Christie is still one of the most unfathomable serial killers of modern times. Journalist Kate Winkler Dawson braids these strands together into a taut, compulsively readable true crime thriller about a man who changed the fate of the death penalty in the UK, and an environmental catastrophe with implications that still echo today.

Critic reviews

"Death in the Air by Kate Winkler Dawson is a fascinating, beautifully researched, and compulsively readable book, which tells the entwined stories of the Great London Smog of 1952 and a serial killer, John Reginald Christie, who exploited the fog as a cloak for murder. This is a portrait of London at one of its darkest and most desperate times. Not since The Devil in the White City has a book told such a harrowing tale."—Douglas Preston, #1 NewYork Times bestselling author of The Monster of Florence and TheLost City of the Monkey God

"A London peasouper hangs over the city as a serial killer stalks its streets! This is a true tale of criminal violence against the backdrop of one of the worst environmental disasters of all time, one that led to the death of 12,000 people. It is a narrative that has relevance to the world's pollution problems of today and is also an engrossing read."—Christine L. Corton,author of London Fog: The Biography

"I was seven, and living in London, when these two dreadful and murderous events uncoiled, and I--asthmatic as a result--remember them still. It seems to me that only an outsider, a non-Londoner, could possibly bring them so vividly, so excruciatingly and so unflinchingly back to life. Kate Winkler Dawson has done the history of my city a great service, and she is to be commended for telling a terrible tale memorably and brilliantly."—Simon Winchester, NewYork Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman

"Dawson deftly weaves the tales together in an engrossing narrative that reads like a thriller.... readers will remain hooked on this compelling story and will eagerly await Dawson's next book."—Kirkus

"A deranged maniac plays Fleet Street's reporters like a fiddle at the same time that an industrial-age climate disaster explodes into a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Richly detailed and shrewdly told, Kate Winkler Dawson's Death in the Air is as suspenseful as it is chillingly relevant."—Robert Kolker, NewYork Times bestselling author of Lost Girls

"Just when you think true crime can't get more interesting, here comes Kate Dawson with her imaginatively conceived and meticulously researched tale about Reg Christie, the fastidious, soft-voiced London clerk who embarks on a vicious killing spree in 1952 just as a deadly fog descends on London. But Death in the Air is hardly another study of a depraved serial killer. It's also a riveting history of London in the years after World War II--a city beset by political cover ups and misguided police investigations. Dawson's ability to weave together so many separate strands of one story is simply magnificent."—Skip Hollandsworth,author of The Midnight Assassin: The Hunt for America's First Serial Killer

New information for this well seasoned ex-pat!

I really thought that that I knew a good amount of my old country's history but 'Death In The Air' shared quite a few surprises I can tell you. I must admit that I have always been intrigued with the Timothy Evans/John Christie case ever since I was a young girl. I know that is pretty weird however I remember watching the Attenborough movie 10 Rillington Place (and the nightmares that followed) during my teen years. I always became so incensed with regards to Evan's execution as I felt that it was so unjust. He did not receive a fair trial. Poor guy had to take everything 'on faith' as he could neither read or write so from the start he was at a distinct disadvantage. Kate Winkler Dawson (KWD) has done so much research that I have learned so much more about the case that I was totally riveted to this book.

With regards to the horrendous fog. This crises was completely new to me. I lived in Birmingham right near a metal smelting plant so all I can say is 'join the club'! However seriously I had no idea that the good quality coal was being sold abroad and that the 'nutty slack' which I remember really well was being fobbed off on us, the British people who put those politicians in office. Those same politicians who were living in their lovely detached houses out in suburbia. Homes heated with electricity.

I remember how hard it was to get this stuff to burn. It always felt damp and once you did get it started someone had to stay close to it as it would spark like crazy. Would often set your rug on fire. Huge puffs of smoke would fill the room. You would put your bed sheets out on the washing line to dry. When you went to bring them in they would be spotty and grey. I remember my Nan saying that it was due to the Nutty slack.

I would have given this book five stars all the way but felt that it got pulled down in parts with stats and other minutia where I found myself 'drifting off' a little.

Graeme Malcolm gives a stellar performance. When he quotes Christie it was quite eerie at times.

Enjoyed this book very much. Highly recommend.

Another stellar book from Kate Winkler Dawson

This book is beautifully written and unendingly fascinating. The audio narration is perfect. If you enjoy true crime, history, and/or insight into political machinations around public health, you will enjoy this book. No surprise here; everything Winkler Dawson is behind is equally worth your time! I highly recommend all her books and podcasts. Her body of work is consistently excellent.

Intertwines two stories perfectly .

Play at 1.2 speed, the narrator is SLOOOW. Engrossing story of murder and a a toxic disaster.

Avoidance Leads to Death

Smog and a detective that did not ask enough questions, led to many deaths. I didn't learn about deadly smog in England or the United States. Very interesting to learn about this and the killer also.

Gripping historic true crime

Listened to the whole thing in a matter of days. I appreciated how vividly the author brought to life the time and place (post-war London). It reminded me structurally of Devil in the White City in the way it shifted between perspectives, as well as the monstrosity of the murders. I enjoy listening to the author's podcast Tenfold More Wicked and would have loved to hear her narrate, but Graeme Malcolm did a great job with his narration and helped situate it in Britain. I would have liked a little more discussion of the murderer's psychology, as I found him really difficult to understand and a bit atypical for a sociopath. Highly recommend overall.