In the 19th century Scotland was depicted as a land of misty glens, engineering innovation and inventive genius. But Scotland was also the home of brutal murder, terrifying riots, child cruelty, bank robbery and acid attack. Women as well as men were capable of horrendous acts, and crime could strike anywhere: at home, on the road and even at sea. From the Borders to the Northern Isles, crime was never far away. Edinburgh, with its reputation for polite decorum, was also the scene of poisoning and savagery; the dark streets of industrial Glasgow and Dundee harboured thieves and muggers, while the villages of coast and country hid wild men and vicious women. This book exposes some of the crimes, remembered and forgotten, that rocked the Scotland of our ancestors.