The World’s Worst Woman – Countess Marie O’Rourke Tarnovska

CLEWS tells of the most prolific femme fatale known to mankind and the most celebrated murder trial in the history of Venice. Countess Marie Nicolaevna O’Rourke Tarnovska was the “Russian Delilah” – a woman who orchestrated scenes worthy of Tolstoy. Except - Anna Karenina was a piker compared to the real thing.


Sources:
Laura James, “The world’s worst woman.” A chapter of Masters of true crime, 2012.
Anna Mary Babey, Americans in Russia, 1938.
Charles Boswell and Lewis Thompson, Advocates of Murder, 1962.
Claudio Dell’Orso and Andrea Salmaso. L’Affare de Russi (ebook) 
http://www.hotelala.it/img/libro_contessa.pdf
Elliott O’Donnell, Fatal kisses, in history and tradition. 1929. 
Private interview with Tatjana Hine, 2009. 
Brad Steiger, Bizarre beauties, 1965.
Catherine Lingua, Ces anges du bizarre, 1995.
Visconti et al. Il processo di Maria Tarnowska, 2006.

All images in the public domain (copyright expired).