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A review by starthelostgirl
The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley
5.0
I found this book to be a really fascinating introduction to how crime stories became popular among English people and how they evolved over time. I liked that there were true crime stories mixed in with the fictional ones, and that Worsley examined how the line between the two was often blurred. She made some really interesting points about how Jekyll and Hyde may have subconsciously influenced how we think about Jack the Ripper.
As a fan of the Golden Age of detective fiction, and specifically Agatha Christie, I felt like she understated the lasting impact of those stories and Christie’s ability to write an amazing story. More focus seemed to be on how Christie’s supporting characters are “flat” than facts like And Then There Were None (which was not even mentioned) is still the best selling crime novel of all time.
I love that she was able to say that human interest in crime dates back to the invention of modern society. I would have been interested in further analysis of how we consume fact and fictional crime stories today - the book only goes through the 1940s thoroughly. I think the way we consume true crime stories has evolved hugely even in the last few decades, but definitely since the early 1800s, when it was apparently common to tour a murder house and look at the dead bodies.
As a fan of the Golden Age of detective fiction, and specifically Agatha Christie, I felt like she understated the lasting impact of those stories and Christie’s ability to write an amazing story. More focus seemed to be on how Christie’s supporting characters are “flat” than facts like And Then There Were None (which was not even mentioned) is still the best selling crime novel of all time.
I love that she was able to say that human interest in crime dates back to the invention of modern society. I would have been interested in further analysis of how we consume fact and fictional crime stories today - the book only goes through the 1940s thoroughly. I think the way we consume true crime stories has evolved hugely even in the last few decades, but definitely since the early 1800s, when it was apparently common to tour a murder house and look at the dead bodies.