Judith Flanders
In this fascinating exploration of murder in nineteenth century England, Judith Flanders examines some of the most gripping cases that captivated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction,Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodramaâ€”even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the otherâ€”the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell.,In thisÂ meticulously researched and engrossingÂ book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancÃ©e around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hareâ€™s bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in Londonâ€™s East End.,Through these stories of murderâ€”from the brutal to the patheticâ€”Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain.Â  With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, ,The Invention of Murder, is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.
Nonfiction,History,Crime,True Crime,Mystery,Crime,Historical,Victorian,Historical,Mystery,Literature,19th Century,European Literature,British Literature,Science
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime