The Invention of Murder

Starred review from May 20, 2013
Social historian Flanders (Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England) does a superb job of demonstrating the role that the press and fiction writers played in shaping the British public’s attitudes toward crime during the 19th century. She captures perfectly the appeal of bloody fiction and macabre news stories: “Crime, especially murder, is very pleasant to think about in the abstract: it is like hearing blustery rain on the windowpane when sitting indoors.” But it’s unlikely that the British thought of murder much at all during the first decade of the 19th century—in 1810, there were a mere 15 murder convictions in England and Wales combined. The public’s perception of random lethal violence changed with the horrific 1811 Ratcliffe Highway killings, brutal mass murders in London’s East End that coincided with technological advances that enabled swifter and cheaper production of broadsheets describing the crimes. Flanders’s convincing and smart synthesis of the evolution of an official police force, fictional detectives, and real-life cause célèbres will appeal to devotees of true crime and detective fiction alike. B&w illus. throughout.

May 15, 2013
Flanders (Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain, 2006, etc.) attempts to trace the growth of murder and its detection in Victorian England. The author does not track the history of crime-solving during this period; most crimes were solved by the simple expedient of someone pointing a finger. The accused had very few rights, and those who couldn't afford to pay a lawyer were on their own. Flanders devotes most of her book to murders--one after another after another, many sensational, others notable for the innocence of the executed. Since the author does not present the murders chronologically, it's difficult to tell if the murder trials had any effect on the evolution of the rights of defendants. Instead, Flanders organizes the text according to who killed whom: husband/wife, servants/employers, etc. The author demonstrates the significance of the press in the investigations of the murders. From the beginning of the 19th century, broadsides and "penny dreadfuls" were circulated immediately after an event. Those and the newspapers of the time readily admitted that truth was irrelevant--profit was the goal. Their treatment of the accused depended largely on their social class. Theaters and authors profiled victims and events from the news of the day. Charles Dickens was the most prolific of these, using incidents and even quotes in many books, including Bleak House and Oliver Twist. Though Flanders ably follows the important role played by the media, readers seeking information about the establishment of the first police force or detective department, or laws passed to protect defendants, should look elsewhere. A grisly, grim slog through the history of Victorian murder, punctuated occasionally by intriguing historical lessons.

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February 15, 2013

A noted social historian of the Victorian era whose books (e.g., Circle of Sisters) have been short-listed for major British awards, Flanders isn't here to titillate. But she does want to show that, while murder was not that common in 19th-century gaslit England, folks back then were titillated by violent death, which found a place in broadside, fiction, theater, opera, and even puppet shows. Murder as art, and a few gruesome real-life cases to boot.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2013

Brilliantly researched and rendered, this is an indispensable read for anyone--scholars and the general public alike--who harbors an interest in the evolution of the notion and representation of murder. UK social historian Flanders (The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London) has written a remarkable cultural history that chronicles the way murder was regarded and written about during the Victorian era. Having sifted through innumerable broadsides, newspapers, journals, and fictional pieces of the time, Flanders posits that our modern understanding of--and our fascination with--murder has been shaped by Victorian cultural mores and representations in print media, drama, and literature. The chapter titles provide an outline of the historical development of our relationship with murder: "Imagining Murder," "Trial by Newspaper, "Entertaining Murder," "Policing Murder," "Panic," "Middle-Class Poisoners," Science, Technology and the Law, "Violence," and "Modernity." Flanders presents a fascinating narrative in well-crafted and at times suitably ironic prose. VERDICT Perfect for readers who enjoyed Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. An absorbing contribution to the history of crime.--Lynne Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2013

Brilliantly researched and rendered, this is an indispensable read for anyone--scholars and the general public alike--who harbors an interest in the evolution of the notion and representation of murder. UK social historian Flanders (The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens' London) has written a remarkable cultural history that chronicles the way murder was regarded and written about during the Victorian era. Having sifted through innumerable broadsides, newspapers, journals, and fictional pieces of the time, Flanders posits that our modern understanding of--and our fascination with--murder has been shaped by Victorian cultural mores and representations in print media, drama, and literature. The chapter titles provide an outline of the historical development of our relationship with murder: "Imagining Murder," "Trial by Newspaper, "Entertaining Murder," "Policing Murder," "Panic," "Middle-Class Poisoners," Science, Technology and the Law, "Violence," and "Modernity." Flanders presents a fascinating narrative in well-crafted and at times suitably ironic prose. VERDICT Perfect for readers who enjoyed Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. An absorbing contribution to the history of crime.--Lynne Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.