A Very British Murder

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This makes an excellent introduction to the morbid fascination with real-life murder that gripped nineteenth century Britain. Hundreds of people came to look at the Marrs, the victims, as they lay dead on their beds – contamination of evidence at the crime scene was not yet a consideration. I haven't seen the TV programme/series on which this book was based, but can envisage it from the structure of this book and the general style in which it comes across. Amoral, violent and brutal, this American influence represented the future of British crime fiction.

In 1849 the case of Frederick and Maria Manning, the suburban couple who were hanged after killing Maria's lover and burying him under their kitchen floor, spurned what was alleged to be the authentic memoirs of Maria Manning. I am a fan of detective stories from the Golden Age, and I was disappointed that there are several examples where Ms Worsley took quotes totally out of context. I departed for English Heritage in 1997, first as an Assistant Inspector and then as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings; Bolsover Castle, Hardwick Old Hall, and Kirby Hall were my favourite properties there.

He tried Dorothy L Sayers with 'The Nine Tailors', which did not help the situation because he began his critique with 'One of the dullest books I have ever encountered in any field. Knyga – savotiška studija, nagrinėjanti britų „liguistą nacionalinę maniją žmogžudystei“, kaip tai pavadina Worsley. From the start of the 19th century, a new form of entertainment developed that was based on the British obsession with death.

I found it remarkable how much change there has been in Britain just in the 10 years since the book was published - LW remarks at people traipsing through a murder scene 200 years ago and says that would be unacceptable now - yet consider the reaction recently when a murder went missing from a river bank and thousands of people went to the area to "investigate". Lots of interesting information is contained in this short books which ends with the Golden Age of Mystery (1920-40) and how the mystery has really become the thrillers that we read today. m. on KPBS 2 - Lucy begins with real-life crime from the first half of the nineteenth century - the Ratcliffe Highway Murders; Mariah Marten and the Red Barn; and the Bermondsey Horror. This riveting investigation shows how during the birth of modern Britain murder entered our national psyche -- and has been a part of us ever since. By Chloe Penman / © BBC 2013 Lucy Worsley in Churchyard where a boy in Rode Hill House murder is buried in A VERY BRITISH MURDER.The author's theme is that the British came to 'consume' the subject of murder for entertainment, initially in cheap broadsheets, and later on in Penny Bloods and Penny Dreadfuls, cheap forerunners of the paperback of the 20th century. An entertaining, well-written and well-structured exploration of the interest in murder which has been prevalent in the British for the last couple of centuries. Before then, people were more worried about famine, plague or war than they were about being murdered.