Join Jonathan Ball Publishers and Constitution Hill for the launch of Daisy de Melker: Hiding Among Killers in the City of Gold by Ted Botha.

Botha will be in conversation with Brian McKechnie at the launch.

A true crime classic about Daily de Melker in ragtime Joburg – a city of murder, mayhem and gold.

Botha takes the reader into the underbelly of Johannesburg in the 1920s and 1930s as he traces the fascinating story of the mysterious Daisy de Melker, who was hanged for poisoning her son. Many also believed she poisoned two husbands for their life insurance money.

In the shadow of ever-growing mine dumps, she went about her business quietly and unnoticed – the most unlikely of killers. Even though people close to her kept dying, no one suspected a thing for 20 years. When someone finally spoke up, it led to one of South Africa’s most sensational trials.

De Melker’s story unfolds in tandem with those of colourful Johannesburg characters of the same period such as the Foster Gang, Herman Charles Bosman, the dashing conman Baron von Veltheim and a Bonny and Clyde-style couple, Dicky Mallalieu and Gwen Tolputt. Some cross paths with each other and also those of famous writers of era such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sarah Gertrude Millin.

Daisy de Melker will be released by Jonathan Ball Publishers at the end of May.

Event details

Date: Thursday 11 May 2023
Time: 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: Women’s Jail Lekgotla, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg
RSVP: charlene.davids@jonathanball.co.za

Categories Non-fiction South Africa

Tags Book events Book launches Constitution Hill Daisy de Melker Johannesburg Jonathan Ball Publishers