The Art of the English Murder: From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock

by Lucy Worsley

Overview

Murder—a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy. And a very strange obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves?

Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, prose and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism. At a point during the birth of the modern era, murder entered the popular psyche, and it’s been a part of us ever since.

The Art of the English Murder is a unique exploration of the art of crime—and a riveting investigation into the English criminal soul by one of our finest historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781605989099
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	11/16/2015
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	135,921
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Lucy Worsley, Ph.D., is Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, the Banqueting House in Whitehall, and Kew Palace in England. Please visit www.lucyworsley.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1 How to Enjoy a Murder

1 A Connoisseur in Murder 9

2 The Highway 19

3 The Watchmen 31

4 The Murder Circuit 43

5 House of Wax 53

6 True Crime 63

7 Charles Dickens, Crime Writer 79

8 The Ballad of Maria Marten 91

9 Stage Fright 103

10 The Bermondsey Horror 113

Part 2 Enter the Detective

11 Middle-Class Murderers and Medical Gentlemen 127

12 The Good Wife 139

13 Detective Fever 151

14 A New Sensation 163

15 'It is worse than a crime, Violet…' 179

16 Monsters and Men 187

17 The Adventure of the Forensic Scientist 197

18 Revelations of a Lady Detective 211

Part 3 The Golden Age

19 The Women Between the Wars 223

20 The Duchess of Death 235

21 A Life Less Ordinary 245

22 The Great Game 257

23 Snobbery with Violence 267

24 The Dangerous Edge of Things 279

Postscript: 'The Decline of English Murder' 289

Acknowledgements 295

Sources 297

Index 307

Editorial Reviews

Worsley captures this bloody love affair very well.

The Independent

Worsley has a lively, accessible style, with frequent changes of pace and contagious enthusiasm for the little anecdotes and artifacts that bring history to life. A friendly introduction to the history of crime fiction.

The Washington Post

Lively. Worsley’s goal isn’t to provide a history of crime or crime writing, but to show how the British enjoyed and consumed the idea of murder.

The New York Times Book Review

Delightful.

Book Riot

Irresistible. Crisp, clear and good to the last sentence.

The Buffalo News

Nicely illustrated with 16 pages of mostly color pictures and other B&W pictures throughout, this book is a delightful romp through the most iconic staples of Victorian life: Sherlock Holmes, Madame Tussaud’s waxworks, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I recommend reading this at night with a strong cup of tea. Just keep your lights on, and the doors locked.

The Sun News Miami

A brief, absorbing history lesson on how the UK’s obsession with bloody deeds changed not only methods of law enforcement, but fertilized the roots of modern popular culture.

Bookgasm

Worsley retells the stories of famous murderers and legendary criminals in delightfully readable language, with sharp, illuminating comments.

The Literary Review

Lucy Worsley's lively book…traces the growth of this industry through some of the era's most avidly followed killings. Her goal isn't to provide a history of crime or crime writing, but to show how "the British enjoyed and consumed the idea of murder"…A bonus of The Art of the English Murder is Worsley's interest in women writers, partly the grandes dames of the 1920s and '30s like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, but also several whose work has been forgotten…

The New York Times Book Review - Sara Paretsky

★ 06/09/2014
This lively, lucid, and wonderfully lurid history from Worsley (If Walls Could Talk) examines the fascination with murder in British popular culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The book opens with an account of the Ratcliffe Highway murders—two separate attacks that left seven people dead. These murders established the link between sensational crime reporting and robust newspaper sales, a gruesome correlation that shaped pop culture in the U.K. in the ensuing decades. Worsley's study takes a literary spin as she traces the emergence of detective fiction from its roots in the mid-Victorian "sensation" novel. She dwells at length on the genre's "golden age"—the interwar period, which saw the rise of female writers (e.g., Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers)—and subsequently shows how detective fiction gave way to the darker American-style thriller of the Cold War era. Worsley's vivid account excites as much as its sensational subject matter, and edifies, too, thanks to her learned explications. Agent: Felicity Bryant, Felicity Bryan Associates. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Worsley's vivid account excites as much as its sensational subject matter, and edifies, too, thanks to her learned explications." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review

From the Publisher

Worsley's book covers a great deal of ground and provides an excellent overview of how the consumption of crime became a dominant part of our cultural landscape.

The Sunday Times (London)

The fictional detective is part of our way of seeing the world now, and this is an amusing book to show how our fascination with murder (which we ought to find nothing but repellent) made it happen.

The Columbus Dispatch

★ 09/15/2014
The popularity of murder as a form of entertainment isn't new—crime stories both real and fictional have been highly popular and profitable for centuries. In this fascinating account, cultural historian and curator Worsley looks at the British public's love affair with murder most foul. Spanning the years 1800–1946, the author covers the notorious crimes of the times and the ways the public followed them, including through broadsides, puppet plays, "penny dreadfuls," (which took their inspiration from real crimes) and "sensation novels" that drew on the public's fascination with villainy among the rich and poor. The relatively new profession of detective was created during this period as well, and detective stories became a staple of literature. Despite the blood and gore, the true crime genre was essentially a morality play, with good triumphing over evil to the benefit of society. Such stories led to the postwar "cozy" mystery, which eventually gave way to the "thriller" genre, in which cruelty and amorality even among the heroes radically changed the tone of crime drama. VERDICT This riveting cultural history will enthrall fans of British crime novels as well as readers of true crime.—Deirdre Bray, Middletown P.L., OH

Library Journal

2014-08-06
Worsley (If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home, 2012, etc.) explains England's love affair with scandals, lurid murders and executions. Readers' initial apprehension that this might be just another list of sensational crimes, trials and public hangings quickly fades as the author exhibits her exceptional knowledge of social and literary England. Her position as chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, which manages the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and other significant British sites, gives her a broad supply of informative resources. Simply put, murder was the TV of the Victorian era, an escape from everyday woes—of which there were plenty. With the burgeoning newspaper industry printing every minute detail, the public began expressing their conclusions by sending letters to investigators. In the early 18th century, news was spread by traveling troupes, which presented melodramas and puppet shows depicting the latest horror. There was also plenty of "penny blood" fiction adding to the descriptions of blood and gore. As the London stage became more "legitimate," melodramas faded, and the detective appeared, as did the "respectable murderer." Thanks to authors such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Arthur Conan Doyle, the clever, observant detective became one of the most popular characters in literature. These stories were more concerned with explaining the why and who of a crime rather than describing the beastly deed. Then, during the "Golden Age" between the wars, demand grew for the "Mayhem Parva," mysteries set in quaint but "stultifying, repetitive, hide-bound and reactionary" villages. These cozy mysteries can still be found on bookshelves alongside darker spy thrillers and crime novels. Worsley ably shows how audiences drove writers, actors and purveyors of news to satisfy their morbid curiosities.

Kirkus Reviews

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