Book Blog | Dr Oliver Daddow

The Hidden First Plot: Jean Daddow, Drugs and Coercive Control

It is well established that Jean Daddow and her son Roger Blackman concocted ten different plots to assassinate Terry Daddow before he was shot in November 1991. My research confirms the existence of a 'new' plot that began well before all the others, not long after my father married the Black Widow. From early 1990, Jean Daddow was secretly lacing my father's food and drink with cocktails of Class A drugs. Already suffering from depression, the illegal drugs caused him to have a slow, inexorable mental collapse, which no medical professional could explain. Isolated and made helplessly reliant upon his doting wife, dad could be more easily picked off when the woman he described as his 'nurse' deemed the time was right. This story of murder is also one of coerce and control, centring on a drug-riddled eleventh plot.

Primary Sources in True Crime Writing II: Breakthrough Update

This blog reflects on a transformative breakthrough relating to an unexpected primary source I have been able to track down for the book's research.

Primary Sources in True Crime Writing I

This blog reflects on the importance of primary sources in writing true crime. It ends with a call on the government to keep these vital documents longer to promote informed crime writing and robust investigative reporting in a healthy democracy. In human terms, these records may be the only record the families have left to help them understand how a victim lived and died.

Publishing and Authorial Credibility

This blog discusses the notion of authorial credibility, which comes in different forms, depending on who you are and what you write about. The more credibility you have to write about a given issue, the more readily publishers and readers will want to invest time and resources in your book.