Domestic Murder in Nineteenth-Century England
| Author | : Bridget Walsh |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 194 |
| Release | : 2016-05-13 |
| Genre | : Literary Criticism |
| ISBN | : 1317148452 |
Why did certain domestic murders fire the Victorian imagination? In her analysis of literary and cultural representations of this phenomenon across genres, Bridget Walsh traces how the perception of the domestic murderer changed across the nineteenth century and suggests ways in which the public appetite for such crimes was representative of wider social concerns. She argues that the portrayal of domestic murder did not signal a consensus of opinion regarding the domestic space, but rather reflected significant discontent with the cultural and social codes of behaviour circulating in society, particularly around issues of gender and class. Examining novels, trial transcripts, medico-legal documents, broadsides, criminal and scientific writing, illustration and, notably, Victorian melodrama, Walsh focuses on the relationship between the domestic sphere, so central to Victorian values, and the desecration of that space by the act of murder. Her book encompasses the gendered representation of domestic murder for both men and women as it tackles crucial questions related to Victorian ideas of nationhood, national health, political and social inequality, newspaper coverage of murder, unstable and contested models of masculinity and the ambivalent portrayal of the female domestic murderer at the fin de siècle.
The Port of London Murders
| Author | : Josephine Bell |
| Publisher | : Sourcebooks, Inc. |
| Total Pages | : 272 |
| Release | : 2021-09-07 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1464215413 |
A suicide, a derelict barge, and floating pink chiffon nightdresses... When the San Angelo drifts into port in the Pool of London, telephones begin to ring across the capital and an intricate series of events is set in motion. Beset by dreadful storms in the Bay of Biscay, the ship, along with the "mixed cargo" it carries, is late. Unaware of the machinations of avaricious importers, wayward captains, and unscrupulous traders, docklands residents Harry Reed and June Harvey are thrust together by a riverside accident, before being swept into the current of a dark plot developing on the harborside. First published in 1938, this early novel from one of the great Golden Age mystery writers skillfully delivers a compelling tale of murder set against a gritty portrayal of life alongside the Thames. This edition also includes an Introduction by series editor CWA Diamond Dagger-Award winning author Martin Edwards.
A Very British Murder
| Author | : Lucy Worsley |
| Publisher | : Random House |
| Total Pages | : 322 |
| Release | : 2014-05-08 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1849906513 |
This is the story of a national obsession. Ever since the Ratcliffe Highway Murders caused a nation-wide panic in Regency England, the British have taken an almost ghoulish pleasure in 'a good murder'. This fascination helped create a whole new world of entertainment, inspiring novels, plays and films, puppet shows, paintings and true-crime journalism - as well as an army of fictional detectives who still enthrall us today. A Very British Murder is Lucy Worsley's captivating account of this curious national obsession. It is a tale of dark deeds and guilty pleasures, a riveting investigation into the British soul by one of our finest historians.
Gender and the Representation of Evil
| Author | : Lynne Fallwell |
| Publisher | : Routledge |
| Total Pages | : 212 |
| Release | : 2016-07-28 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1315531550 |
This edited collection examines gendered representations of "evil" in history, the arts, and literature. Scholars often explore the relationships between gender, sex, and violence through theories of inequality, violence against women, and female victimization, but what happens when women are the perpetrators of violent or harmful behavior? How do we define "evil"? What makes evil men seem different from evil women? When women commit acts of violence or harmful behavior, how are they represented differently from men? How do perceptions of class, race, and age influence these representations? How have these representations changed over time, and why? What purposes have gendered representations of evil served in culture and history? What is the relationship between gender, punishment of evil behavior, and equality?
The Invention of Murder
| Author | : Judith Flanders |
| Publisher | : Macmillan |
| Total Pages | : 570 |
| Release | : 2013-07-23 |
| Genre | : True Crime |
| ISBN | : 1250024889 |
"Superb... 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." -Publishers Weekly, starred review In this fascinating exploration of murder in nineteenth century England, Judith Flanders examines some of the most gripping cases that captivated the Victorians and gave rise to the first detective fiction Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama-even into puppet shows and performing dog-acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other-the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P.D. James and Patricia Cornwell. In this meticulously researched and engrossing book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder in Great Britain, both famous and obscure: from Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée around town by omnibus, to Burke and Hare's bodysnatching business in Edinburgh; from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper, to the tragedy of the murdered Marr family in London's East End. Through these stories of murder-from the brutal to the pathetic-Flanders builds a rich and multi-faceted portrait of Victorian society in Great Britain. With an irresistible cast of swindlers, forgers, and poisoners, the mad, the bad and the utterly dangerous, The Invention of Murder is both a mesmerizing tale of crime and punishment, and history at its most readable.
Know No Evil
| Author | : Graeme Hampton |
| Publisher | : Hera books Ltd |
| Total Pages | : 378 |
| Release | : 2019-07-10 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 191297312X |
'This is a brilliant read... the story twists and turns to an exciting conclusion and leaves you wanting more’ Mac Reviews Books Old crimes don’t stay buried forever... It’s high summer, and London sizzles in the grip of a heatwave. But when the body of young mother, Leanne Wyatt, is discovered in an East London park, the heat rises to boiling point for D.I. Matthew Denning. Under pressure to solve the case, and fast, he delves into Leanne’s history and finds that she was close to some dangerous individuals – could one of them have taken her life in an angry rage? But when another woman is found dead in similar circumstances, Denning is forced to consider that a killer stalks the capital’s streets. But when young, ambitious, D.S. Molly Fisher, discovers a horrifying link to these deaths and a killing spree in South London a decade ago – a terrifying summer where young women died at the hands of a psychopath the press dubbed ‘The Bermondsey Ripper’, the case is blown wide open. Anthony Ferguson is serving a life sentence for the crimes, so are these new deaths the result of a copycat killer - or did the police convict the wrong man? Whatever the case, Denning and Fisher need to stop a killer in his tracks – before he sets his sights on them. The launch of a gripping new crime thriller series featuring D.I. Matthew Denning and D.S Molly Fisher, Know No Evil will utterly engross fans of Ian Rankin, Angela Marsons and L.J. Ross. Praise for Know No Evil: ‘Wow I really enjoyed this book... It is a complex, intriguing, grabbing book that you can sink your teeth into. I was hooked from beginning to end’ Reading Through the Pain ‘The solving of the crime had me gripped... we’re never sure what is a red herring until the riveting climax’ Cara Merrol Loves Books ‘An excellent debut novel, I was drawn in from the start... the twists are clever and I genuinely didn’t guess the ending’ Alex J Book Reviews ‘Enough twists to keep you guessing in this solid, engrossing and well-plotted police procedural... thoroughly entertaining’ The Bookwormery ‘This story starts with a bang and holds your attention throughout... fast-paced and multi-layered, each twist and turn drawing us further in’ Book Bound
Singing the News of Death
| Author | : Una McIlvenna |
| Publisher | : Oxford University Press |
| Total Pages | : 561 |
| Release | : 2022-07-05 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0197551858 |
Across Europe, from the dawn of print until the early twentieth century, the news of crime and criminals' public executions was printed in song form on cheap broadsides and pamphlets to be sold in streets and marketplaces by ballad-singers. Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900 looks at how and why song was employed across Europe for centuries as a vehicle for broadcasting news about crime and executions, exploring how this performative medium could frame and mediate the message of punishment and repentance. Examining ballads in English, French, Dutch, German, and Italian across four centuries, author Una McIlvenna offers the first multilingual and longue durée study of the complex and fascinating phenomenon of popular songs about brutal public death. Ballads were frequently written in the first-person voice, and often purported to be the last words, confession or 'dying speech' of the condemned criminal, yet were ironically on sale the day of the execution itself. Musical notation was generally not required as ballads were set to well-known tunes. Execution ballads were therefore a medium accessible to all, regardless of literacy, social class, age, gender or location. A genre that retained extraordinary continuities in form and content across time, space, and language, the execution ballad grew in popularity in the nineteenth century, and only began to fade as executions themselves were removed from the public eye. With an accompanying database of recordings, Singing the News of Death brings these centuries-old songs of death back to life.
