Invention of Murder

"Murder in the nineteenth century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, transformed into novels, into broadsides and ballads, into theatre and melodrama and opera- even into puppet shows and performing dog acts. Detective  fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other- the pioneers 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 fascination book, Judith Flanders retells the gruesome stories of many different types of murder- both famous and obscure- from the crimes (and myths) of Sweeney Todd and Jack the Ripper to the tragedies of the murdered Marr family in London's East End; Burke and Hare and their body-snatching business in Edinburgh; and Greenacre, who transported his dismembered fiancée 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." -Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Griffin Publishing

Judith Flanders, paperback