London, England -- A British author is hoping to make a killing on a new book about botched executions.

Geoffrey Abbott served many years as a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London before writing his book "The Executioner Always Chops Twice" (St. Martin's Press).

The bloody good book details badly executed executions like the snafu behind John Bartendale's hanging in 1634. His body was buried near the scaffold, but when a passer-by saw the dirt moving above Bartendale's grave, the stranger dug up the "living corpse."

Then there was James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, who was led to the chopping block in 1685. Scott knew the executioner was notoriously inaccurate, and tipped him six guineas to do a good job.

It didn't help. It took three or four whacks before the executioner finally cut off Scott's head with a knife.

Finally, in 1985, it took 45 minutes to find a vein in the scarred body of serial killer and junkie Peter Morin so that he could be killed by lethal injection.

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