The Invention of Murder

Although the title of Judith Flanders's new book is an exaggeration, she goes a long way toward showing that it is not an extreme one. It is _The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime_ (Harper Press, UK), and of course no culture or time "invented" murder. What happened in England during the nineteenth century, however, is that murder became a topic of national interest. She quotes Thomas de Quincey, who wrote in 1826 in _On Murder Considered As One Of The Fine Arts_, about how pleasant it is to read about crimes afflicting someone else; she writes that "... crime, especially murder, is very pleasant to think about in the abstract: it is like hearing blustery rain on the windowpane when sitting indoors." And people did hear about murders in various ways, some of them new for the time; Flanders seems to have read every broadsheet and bad novel that sprang from the many murders she describes here. People enjoyed the shivery sensation that comes with hearing about murderers who afflicted others, and they also enjoyed vicariously the chase after the culprits, something that was never emphasized before because there had been no real detectives or police forces. Murder during the period she describes was changed into a popular entertainment, and not just in "penny-blood" (later known as "penny-dreadful") novels; by the end of the era, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were all getting in on the act.Some of the crimes here are famous; Flanders winds up with a final chapter that includes the ravages of Jack the Ripper, which in her telling seems a murder spree culmination of all the ones she describes preceding it. One of the important parts of this fascinating book is to show the changes of the police during the time. The idea had been that the job of the police was to prevent crimes, and Parliament had specifically established this duty for them. They could do crowd control, for instance, and help protect the weak and oppressed. It seems obvious to us that police detectives would hunt for evidence that could lead to an arrest and conviction, but this was a new role for the police. A first "Detective Department" (which was to grow into Scotland Yard) was set up in 1842. The other important part of Flanders's work is showing how popular culture made sensations of one crime after another. She describes in detail many horrid murders of the period, and shows that lots of them became nation-wide industries, delighting the public and enriching showmen of low and high degree. Newspapers devoted regular columns to murders; that of the _Examiner_ was headed, "Murders and Murderous Crimes." There was no oversight and no restriction on crime reporting, so that readers were able to enjoy whatever speculations the papers wanted to present. There were lurid broadsides put out on the moment, with stock woodcut illustrations that did not necessarily have anything to do with the crimes described in words. There were penny-bloods, eight- or sixteen-page pamphlets which themselves created a vast readership for cheap and sensational stories, and which might have been inspired by a particular crime but of course had no purpose of describing that crime accurately. A little higher on the same scale were sensation novels, such as the sixty produced by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, who lamented that her readers wanted so much crime and murder, but that didn't stop her from writing. Higher than this were the novels of Dickens (_Oliver Twist_, for instance, may be regarded as a crime novel), who looks in on these pages frequently. Dickens was fascinated by crime, and by prison and prison reform and by hangings (at least one of which he attended in person). Whatever fine art might have come from contemplation of the crimes described here, there were also the patterers who sold broadsides and read from them in hopes of being paid, or taught the tunes to the songs on the broadsides, for the crimes inspired ballads. There were puppet shows as well. Madame Tussaud's got in on the act, not only making wax mannequins of murderers, but buying their clothes, weapons, and other props that could be put on display (even the toffee from the mouth of a murdered babe). There were magic lantern shows, and Staffordshire pottery figurines of murderers, victims, and crime scenes. Racehorses and greyhounds were named after famous murderers.The often grisly crimes described here, and the media representations of them, and the public reactions to them (when the body of poor Harriet Lane who had been missing for a year was discovered, "Harriet Lane" became a macabre joke name for tinned meat) make fascinating reading. Granted, some of the fascination is of the same morbid variety that the murderers inspired in their own time. With dry wit and an enormous range of sources, though, Flanders has shown in this large, detailed, and ambitious work not just the murders, but also the scientific, dramatic, legal, and literary changes that they wrought.

Extraordinarily well researched, delightfully witty, and uncannily insightful, Flanders traces the development of artistic representations of murder from early potboilers to the modern true crime and crime fiction genres. Examining each case in detail, she explains how each crime was covered in the hybrid fact/fiction publications called 'News articles', adapted for the stage, and fictionalized in Penny Dreadfuls and Novels. With much attention paid to the art of detection and the development of police methods to catch killers, The Invention of Murder is a must read for anyone interested in criminology, nineteenth century sensation fiction, or Victorian history.

Bought this book as a gift for my friend because she found it appealing ！ I haven’t given it to her yet but I do like that it comes with some photos hehe I think she will enjoy this book !

I really enjoyed this book. It's more a collection of infamous and not so well known murders of the Victorian age than an essay or scholarly work on Victorian murder. The stories are fascinating and the way that the police of the time as well as journalists and the public, handled and reacted to these crimes is very interesting.In a weird coincidence, I had just started watching "White Chapel" on Amazon/Britbox and some of the cases from the book are recreated in a clever way in the series. Another British movie about one of the crimes is "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" and it deals with the Constance Kent case (quite well, in my opinion, if there are a few liberties being taken with the facts).If you like true stories about the Victorian era and its crimes, this book will keep you entertained and lead you to seek more information on the material and the era.

This was an enjoyable read if you love all things English, especially Victorian culture and history. We all complain about how much violence, etc is in our newspapers and on television, and think it is a recent phenomenon. Ms. Flanders' book illustrates that our interest in "true crime" originated in the Victorian era. This is not a detailed list of murders with gory details. Rather she highlights various well known murders and how they were integrated into novels (Dickens, Thackeray and Collins among others), newspapers...and Staffordshire pottery. She also examines how English law changed during this time in history, largely because of how crime was perceived. If you are looking for a pure true crime hit list this is not for you. If you have an interest in scholarly works and history you will enjoy it very much!

“Crime, especially murder, is very pleasant to think about in the abstract; it is like hearing blustery rain on the window pane when sitting indoors.”The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders tells about the infamous and lesser known gruesome crimes of the nineteenth century, and how it shaped the book and entertainment industries of the time. Many parts of this book were fascinating, especially the way the crimes are written about. I really disliked the awkward flow of the book though. It seemed really jumpy from subject to subject and it was hard for me to feel engrossed in the writing. It almost reminded me of reading text books in college. It was interesting material and I wanted to know it, but it was a dull read. I wanted to love this one, I just didn’t. I did learn a lot though so I am giving this book 3 stars.

An amazing book. Throughly researched. Beautifully written, with sense of humor at times. If you're interested in the Victorian times, death, crime, sociology, mourning rituals-any of them or all- don't hesitate to buy this book. I loved it and was upset that it ended once I finished the book. Absouletly one of my favorite books. Highly recommend. Will read again.

I just got my copy of this book this afternoon so I only had time to skim through quickly before work. My boyfriend read about 100 pages though and said it’s very interesting!

Libro bellissimo

Quite an interesting read, Im about 1/3 of the way through and really enjoying it. The Victorians were messed up in the head.

A little slow at times but all the same a good read..The 18th century London was a different time all right. Public hangings with thousands attending.. I am only half way through it but I am heading to bed early just to get into the story..Some very interesting statistics quoted in this book..

This is, quite simply, a fascinating book. I decided to read it out of mild curiosity, and found within in it the answer to a wide variety of questions which had occurred to me over the course of both my misspent and well spent reading time. For example - why did people used to have to sign the "Poisons Book" at the chemist when purchasing arsenic ("Strong Poison" for example?)? The answer is here - in the first arsenic panic of the C19, when papers whipped up concerns as to possibly thousands of domestic murders going unpunished (complete rot, of course).Or: who was the inspriation for the fascinating Hortense in Bleak House? Or Jaggers? Where did Gaskell find the plot for Mary Barton? What sort of plays did Victorian children put on with their Pollock's Toy Theatre kits? How did Dickens come to write "Hunted Down" (an oddity in his work)? How long has the public been concerned about the use of detectives as agents provocateurs? Who was "sweet Fanny Adams"? Whnce is the verb "to muller" derived? I could go on, but you get the gist. The answers to these and many many more miscellaneous little "wonderings" are answered, but set amongst a logical and helpful structure, which results in a very good sort of social history of the Victorian age taken from one perspective.And of course along the way you get good accounts of most of the best murders of the era, so it has that enjoyable "cheap thrill" element which th Victorians had in such rich measure, and we have not outgrown.Any criticisms? Well, I could have lost a few of the jokes/asides; but that is a question of personal taste. Otherise I felt that an occasional nod to the survival of a fascination with a story beyond Victorian times could have been made: having catalogued the books about the Palmer case in the C19, why not a quick reference to Graves' excellent "They hanged my saintly Billy?"? And I felt that the absence of reference to "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher" in re Constance Kent was simply graceless - after all the book is explicitly presented to appeal to the market made by that excellent work!But these are really small gripes - do read it, it's terrific.

In this book, the author discusses various murders that have taken place in the Victorian Era: who was involved, details of the murders and the aftermath, courtroom drama and subsequent punishment. But in addition to this, the author also discusses the effects that these murders have had on the entertainment world: fictional stories and novels, theatre and plays and even newspaper articles that stretched the facts of the crimes to the point of making the articles works of fiction but with potential boosts to newspaper sales.I enjoyed the recounting of the crimes and the courtroom proceedings, as well as their effects on the population. However, I felt that the detailed recounting of what went on in the various novels and plays (inspired by the various crimes) were greatly overdone. Nitti gritty details of events, along with the names and deeds of the various characters could have been seriously shortened if not omitted completely. Overall, a bit of a disappointment.