Thunderstruck summary

It turns out Cora Crippen can’t cut it in New York. She ends up moving to London to be with Crippen and pursuing show business in Britain’s version of vaudeville. So while she begins chasing her new dreams in England, Crippen stays busy pursuing business and trying to turn a blind eye to his wife’s indiscretions.

But when Cora finds herself a new love, he can no longer look away. But he can’t cut her loose, either. For reasons unknown, he continues to pay for her lifestyle, even occasionally paying for her nights out with Bruce Miller – the man she’s professed to be in love with. She and Crippen agree to keep their marriage intact publicly but feel no obligation to comfort each other in private.

There was a time when miracle cures, or patent medicines, were legally sold as basic medical treatments. Manufacturers could make any claims they wanted. But that time was now nearing an end. 

The government is shutting down company after company and Crippen finds himself forced to change jobs and he earns less and less. Even with that, he’s far from poor. He needs a new house, one that will give Cora the space she needs but at a lower price than he’s currently paying.

It doesn’t take long before Cora Crippen’s friends begin digging a little deeper into the mysterious circumstances of her death. Dr. Crippen’s answers just don’t seem consistent or specific enough. One pair of friends, John Nash and Lil Hawthorne go to a friend of theirs who happens to be in charge of Scotland Yard’s recently established murder squad. He listens to their story and dispatches Detective Chief Inspector Walter Dew to look into the situation.

At first, Dew doesn’t think there’s anything to it. It seems like a perfectly typical case of a man in an unhappy marriage quickly moving on with his receptionist after his wife’s death. Maybe not a pretty circumstance, but certainly not criminal.

Dr. Crippen tells a convincing story about how, in order to avoid scandal, he lied about his wife’s death. His story works because he has indeed been lying. Now, he’s also lying about his motive, which he claims was to avoid scandal so he could be with his mistress, Ethel.

Ethel has also been lied to. Inspector Dew reveals the lie to her and sees that her surprise is genuine. Crippen makes nice with his Ethel while continuing his deception. He tells her that the truth will soon be out – that Cora is still alive. And that they’ll have to run away if they’re to escape the scandal.

There are times when technology advances before the criminal understands it. Imagine the first murderer to be caught due to fingerprints or the first speeding ticket given out by traffic cam. That’s how the rest of this story goes as well.

While the whole world is finding fascination in Marconi’s wireless communication, very few people have actually considered its full implications.

In this Blink we’ve learned about two men – Marconi, the brilliant young inventor turned wealthy entrepreneur, and Crippen, the small, quiet doctor who’d do anything for love.

We’ve also seen how the invention of a new technology crossed paths with a daring escape and created one of the most exciting criminal chases in history.