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

Worsley, Lucy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1605986348 ISBN 13: 9781605986340

Publisher: Pegasus, 2014

Synopsis

In The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley explores this phenomenon in forensic detail, revisiting notorious crimes like the Ratcliff Highway Murders, which caused a nationwide panic in the early nineteenth century, and the case of Frederick and Maria Manning, the suburban couple who were hanged after killing Maria's lover and burying him under their kitchen floor. 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 modern England, murder entered our national 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.

About this title

Review:

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.

Lively, lucid, and wonderfully lurid. Worsley's vivid account excites as much as its sensational subject matter, and edifies, too, thanks to her learned explications.

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.

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

Delightful.

Fascinating. This riveting cultural history will enthrall fans of British crime novels as well as readers of true crime.

Worsley explains England's love affair with scandals, lurid murders and executions, exhibit[ing] her exceptional knowledge of social and literary England. Simply put, murder was the TV of the Victorian era, an escape from everyday woes. Worsley ably shows how audiences drove writers, actors and purveyors of news to satisfy their morbid curiosities.

Worsley captures this bloody love affair very well.

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

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.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pegasus
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1605986348
• ISBN 13: 9781605986340
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336