Start the year with the prospect of a dark or dastardly deed a day in Devon – it's the theme of a new book looking at the macabre side of the county's history.

Author John Van Der Kiste, who lives at South Brent on the edge of Dartmoor, who has already written books on Devon, Somerset and Cornwall murders, has now put together A Grim Almanac of Devon – a day-by-day catalogue of 366 grisly events.

To give you the flavour, here we have accounts of England's first documented serial killer, Robert de Middlecote, a depraved monk believed to have been executed in 1329; the hanging of three women in Bideford in 1682, thought to be the last women executed for witchcraft in England; the burning of Exeter's Theatre Royal in 1887 with the loss of 186 lives; and the saga of murderer John "Babbacombe" Lee, "the man they couldn't hang".

John said: "All of us are fascinated by the rather dark side of historical events. Sometimes it's a case of there but for the grace of God go I, seeing what unfortunate things have happened to people in the past.

"I suppose it does appeal to the slightly gory side of human curiosity but, possibly, helps us to avoid similar things in the future."

■ A Grim Almanac of Devon is published by the History Press of Stroud, Gloucestershire, at £14.99.