The Invention of Murder - How Victorians Revelled in Death Detection Created Modern Crime

Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment began and became ubiquitous - transformed into novels, into broadsides and ballads, into theatre and melodrama and opera - even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. In this meticulously researched and compelling book, Judith Flanders - author of ''The Victorian House'' - retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder - both famous and obscure. From the crimes (and myths) of Sweeny Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedies of the murdered Marr family in London''s East End, Burke and Hare and their bodysnatching business in Edinburgh, to Greenacre who transported his dismembered fiancee around town by omnibus. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the dangerous to know, ''The Invention of Murder'' is both a gripping tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.

Product details

• Authors: Judith Flanders
• Publisher: Harper Collins Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.01.2011
• EAN: 9780007248889
• ISBN: 978-0-00-724888-9
• No. of pages: 556
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 240 mm x 40 mm
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business; Mord