A review by trin
The Art of the English Murder by Lucy Worsley

4.0

Eminently readable history of the English obsession with murder from the early 19th century to the mid-20th; I gobbled it up in nearly one sitting. Worsley makes connections between real-life cases and the fictional depictions of crime from the same era that I found fascinating. She's occasionally sidetracked by biographical detail (we delve, for example, into the personal lives of [a:Thomas de Quincey|50325|Thomas de Quincey|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1458665610p2/50325.jpg], [a:Wilkie Collins|4012|Wilkie Collins|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222099p2/4012.jpg], and [a:Dorothy L. Sayers|8734|Dorothy L. Sayers|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206564934p2/8734.jpg]) but all of that is interesting, too, with Worsley's voice lively throughout. As is often the case with popular nonfiction, I was left wanting more -- more analysis, some grander statement -- but it's possible that I am just yearning for life (and death) to make more sense in general.