SWAG

A study of the changing face of the British criminal leaves the NYT reviewer feeling short-changed:

For American readers, at least, underworld suggests some form of organized crime, but Mr. Thomas includes virtually everything short of school truancy in his definition... [He] seems just as perplexed by the changing nature of British crime as were the judges and the police officers of the time, who tended to blame American films and comic books for everything.

But the story still has its compensations:

One thing is clear: the British criminal heading to the gallows knew how to exit with flair. Neville Heath, the most notorious sex murderer of the 1940s, refused to appeal his sentence, preferring hanging to prison. Just before the sentence was executed, he sent a letter to a friend, warning him that if there is anything to this "reincarnation business," then "please break your morning egg very gently for the next couple of months because it may be me."