The Victorian period, especially in England, was a jigsaw puzzle of contradictions and ideas. Science and industry was encouraged while Christianity was upheld as a moral imperative. The Queen acted as a role model for households typifying duty, grace, poise and virtue - while vice was rampant and a woman was little more than a chattel. The class system was intricate, intrusive and intractable. The nobility enjoyed unearned privilege while the poor endured short, squalid and sad lives. The class system, the wealth of an empire and the expansion of cities gave us crime. Science gave us detection. And Sherlock Holmes gave us a popular hero who was a paragon of crime fighting in an age when crime seemed unstoppable. Is it any wonder such a time gives the author fertile ground for crime fiction?
Pros: The development of a professional police force, one which began to use forensic science, opens the way for many an investigation.
Cons: Some readers have pre-conceived notions as to what the period was like, despite a wealth of records
Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle - The most famous author of the most famous crime stories involving the most famous detective! Even now, after countless editions, analysis and visual treatments, the original stories still retain their charm and involvement.
Anne Perry - Creator of two wonderful characters in Victorian crime fiction; Inspector Thomas Pitt who, along with his wife Charlotte, delves into mysteries of crime in ‘delicate’ circles and situations; William Monk - dandified ex-policeman turned private enquiry agent and amnesiac. Both series are thrilling, atmospheric and compelling.
Boris Akunin - This Russian author of Victorian crime thrillers has created the marvelous character Erast Fandorin, diplomat, playboy, eccentric dandy and criminal investigator. Written with quirky style, the stories which only seem to involve Fandorin as a bystander are engaging and fun.
Peter Lovesey - One of the major writers of Victorian crime fiction with a deep injection of humour, his Sergeant Cribb is a masterpiece. The stories are packed with historical detail, snappy dialogue and great puzzles which are a joy to read.
Elizabeth Peters - A female Victorian Indiana Jones! This is what Peters has given us in Amelia Peabody - a forthright, eccentric and indomitable figure who finds herself investigating all sorts of dastardly crimes in the dry but romantic desert of Egypt.
Robin Paige - Actually the pen-name of a husband and wife team, has produced a fine series of mysteries set at the end of the Victorian period and into Edwardian times. Has a good line in factual historical figures
