My favorite sections of The Art of the English Murder are “Enter the Detective” and “The Golden Age.” Lucy Worsley traces the history of crime fiction in England. I was less interested in the true crime examples Worsley explores. If you’re a fan of English mystery fiction, you’ll find The Art of the English Murder a breezy tour of the genre. For a deeper and more detailed survey, I’d recommend Julian Symons’ Bloody Murder – From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History (1972) (US title: Mortal Consequences). GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
PART ONE: HOW TO ENJOY A MURDER
1. A Connoisseur in Murder
2. The Highway
3. The Watchmen
4. The Murder Circuit
5. House of Wax
6. True Crime
7. Charles Dickens, Crime Writer
8. The Ballad of Maria Marten
9. Stage Fright
10. The Bermondsey Horror
PART TWO: ENTER THE DETECTIVE
11. Middle-Class Murderers and Medical Gentlemen
12. The Good Wife
13. Detective Fever
14. A New Sensation
15. ‘It is worse than a crime, Violet…’
16. Monsters and Men
17. The Adventure of the Forensic Scientist
18. Revelations of a Lady Detective
PART THREE: THE GOLDEN AGE
19. Women Between the Wars
20. The Duchess of Death
21. A Life Less Ordinary
22. The Great Game
23. Snobbery with Violence
24. The Dangerous Edge of Things
Postscript: ‘The Decline of English Murder’
Acknowledgements
Sources
Index
I had my hand on this at the library but it did look more about true crime than I wanted to read.
Patti, your instincts were right on the money! There’s only one chapter dedicated to mystery writers.
I’ve read the Symons and a lot of other genre history books and a fair amount of true crime. If I see this I will look to see if it grabs me before I decide.
Others read since the 1970s:
Howard Haycraft, MURDER FOR PLEASURE and as ed. ART OF THE MYSTERY STORY
Jacques Barzun & Wendell H. Taylor, A CATALOGUE OF CRIME
Francis M. Nevins, Jr., ed. THE MYSTERY WRITER’S ART
Julian Symons, MORTAL CONSEQUENCES
Erik Routley, THE PURITAN PLEASURES OF THE DETECTIVE STORY
Sutherland Scott, BLOOD IN THEIR INK
Colin Watson, SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE
John Ball, ed. THE MYSTERY STORY
H. R. F. Keating, MURDER MUST APPETIZE and CRIME & MYSTERY: The 100 Best Books
Dilys Winn, MURDER INK
Jon L. Breen, several including WHAT ABOUT MURDER?
Bill Pronzini, GUN IN CHEEK and SON OF GUN IN CHEEK
Robin Winks, ed. COLLOQUIUM ON CRIME
Jeff, great list! I’ve read all of them except for Colin Watson’s SNOBBERY WITH VIOLENCE. I’m ordering that book Right Now!
Sometimes I wonder what George’s book budget must be…
Rick, my book budget is large.
Budget? He don’t go no steenkin’ budget!
😉
Should be “got” not “go” up there.