The Invention of Murder

 The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death & Detection & Created Modern Crime- Judith Flanders

Thomas Dunne

Released: September 1, 2011

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Murder in the 19th 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.

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 Sweeney 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, 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.

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Anyone interested in true crime, early crime, or how we as a people came to love watching crime drama on TV needs to read Judith Flanders' The Invention of Murder. 19th-century England saw the development of the police force as we know it (mostly) today, the beginning of the professional detective, the beginning of forensic science and crime analysis. In fiction, the detective story became a new genre, and took off in popularity- from Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to Arthur Conan Doyle. 

But these didn't develop in a vacuum- real life murders inspired many detective plots on page and stage, and science developed to keep up with the criminals. Judith Flanders explores many famous murder cases: from Burke and Hare to Constance Kent; the Marrs; Maria Marten; the Mannerings; poison panics; to, of course the most famous case of the century- Jack the Ripper. She doesn't just look at the cases themselves, but explores public reaction to them- what cases received the most news coverage? The most melodrama stage versions? Why puppet shows and wax images? How did the newspapers influence the Jack the Ripper case- possibly to the point where even today we can't tell fact from fiction? Flanders covers trials that make you want to lock up the judges and cases that make you glad you have nothing to do with 19th-century doctors.

People may have been committing murder since there were other people to kill, but it was the Victorians who made murder the entertainment industry we know it today. Judith Flanders' well written, well researched, and fascinating walk down the dark cobblestone lanes of London and the seemingly innocent village pathways will open your eyes to a whole new take on our modern views of crime and who you should really thank for the detective dramas on TV.