The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley
The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley
List: $17.99 | Sale: $12.59
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The Art of the English Murder
From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock

Author: Lucy Worsley

Narrator: Anne Flosnik

Unabridged: 7 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/15/2014

Synopsis

Murder: a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy—and a very strange, very English obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves?

In The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley explores this phenomenon in forensic detail, revisiting notorious crimes like the Ratcliff Highway Murders, which caused a nationwide panic in the early nineteenth century, and 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. Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, prose and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism. The Art of the English Murder is a unique exploration of the art of crime—and a riveting investigation into the English criminal soul.

About Lucy Worsley

Lucy Worsley, OBE, is chief curator at the charity Historic Royal Palaces. She also presents history documentaries for the BBC. Her bestselling books include Queen Victoria, Jane Austen at Home, The Art of the English Murder, and If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home. In 2019, her BBC One program Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley won a BAFTA. She lives in England.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Amy H. on October 24, 2014

Parts One and Two of Lucy Worsley's book ("How to Enjoy a Murder" and "Enter the Detective") cover much of the same material I do when teaching my graduate courses "The Gothic Tradition" and "Sherlock, Science, and Ratiocination." While the information presented wasn't new to me, I appreciated the e......more

Goodreads review by Melora on January 31, 2016

A quick, entertaining history of English murder as popular entertainment. The author, Lucy Worsley, takes as the beginning of the presentation of murder packaged for public consumption the essay of Thomas De Quincey, “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts, 1827. She traces the popular appreci......more

Goodreads review by Pam on February 20, 2021

This is the second of this author's works I have read. She has an easy to read style with a slight quirkiness, reminiscent of her presentation style on TV. 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 i......more

Goodreads review by Jo on June 25, 2017

This book formed the basis of a short TV series presented by Lucy on the history of the British crime novel. Lucy Worsley is one of my favourite historians, she is always so enthusiastic and engaging, with a wonderful sense of humour and great insight. The book traces the development of the British......more

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