Murder by the book : a sensational chapter in Victorian crime / Claire Harman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harman, Claire, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Courvoisier, François Benjamin, -1840--Trials, litigation, etc.

Courvoisier, François Benjamin.

Russell, William, Lord, 1767-1840.

Russell, William.

Ainsworth, William Harrison, 1805-1882. Jack Sheppard.

Ainsworth, William Harrison.

Courvoisier, François Benjamin, -1840.

Murder--England--London--Case studies.

Murder.

Trials (Murder).

England--London.

Great Britain.

Trials (Murder)--Great Britain--Case studies.

Murder in literature.

Genre:

Case studies.

True crime stories.

Physical Description:

xi, 207 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 21 cm

Other Title:

Sensational chapter in Victorian crime

Place of Publication:

[London] : Viking, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2018.

Summary:

"From the prize-winning biographer--the fascinating, little-known 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? In May 1840, Lord William Russell, well known in London's highest social circles, was found with his throat cut. The brutal murder had the whole city talking. The police suspected Russell's valet, Courvoisier, but the evidence was weak. And the missing clue lay in the unlikeliest place: what Courvoisier had been reading. In the years just before the murder, new printing methods had made books cheap and abundant, the novel form was on the rise, and suddenly everyone was reading. The best-selling titles were the most sensational true-crime stories. Even Dickens and Thackeray, both at the beginning of their careers, fell under the spell of these tales--Dickens publicly admiring them, Thackeray rejecting them. One such phenomenon was William Harrison Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard, the story of an unrepentant criminal who escaped the gallows time and again. When Courvoisier finally confessed his guilt, he would cite this novel in his defense. Murder By the Book combines the thrilling true-crime story with a illuminating account of the rise of the novel form and the battle for its early soul between the most famous writers of the time. It is a superbly researched, vividly written, fascinating read from first to last."--Provided by the publisher.

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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-199) and index.

ISBN:

9780241315224

0241315220

OCLC:

1061145871