Bibliograph

Murder by the book, the crime that shocked Dickens's London, Claire Harman

Type

Label

Murder by the book, the crime that shocked Dickens's London, Claire Harman

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-242) and index

resource.biographical

contains biographical information

Illustrations

mapsplatesillustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Murder by the book

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1043215792

Responsibility statement

Claire Harman

Sub title

the crime that shocked Dickens's London

Summary

"From award-winning biographer Claire Harman, [this book] is the fascinating story of a Victorian-era murder that rocked literary London, leading Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, and Queen Victoria herself to wonder: Can a novel kill? Early in the morning of May 6, 1840, on a highly respectable Mayfair street, a footman answered the door to a panic-stricken maid from a nearby house. Her elderly master, Lord William Russell, was lying in bed with his throat cut so deeply that the head was almost severed. The whole of London, from monarch to street urchins, was soon gripped by the crime's gory details--and panicked by its significance. For behind the Russell murder was another story, the part played in the crime by the season's most sensational novel, Jack Sheppard, the saga of an unrepentant thief who escaped from justice time and again. The book, by William Harrison Ainsworth, had already sparked a crime wave in the capital, and when Lord William's murderer claimed to have been corrupted by the tale, it ignited a fierce debate about writers and morality that drew Dickens and Thackeray, both at the beginning of their careers, into the fray. Harman combines a riveting whodunit with a literary scandal that involved the most famous writers of the day. Impeccably researched and beautifully crafted, Murder by the Book is an utterly beguiling read that sheds new light on a notorious historical mystery and the enigmatic path from virtue to the gallows."--Dust jacket

Table Of Contents

A last walk -- The crime -- "This nightmare of a book" -- The play -- The investigation -- The trial -- In the Stone Jug -- The execution -- The aftermath -- Postscript : unanswered questions

Target audience

adult

Classification