A Very British Murder by Lucy Worsley

Author: Lucy Worsley 

Title: A Very British Murder 

Publisher:  BBC Publishing 

Published: 2013

Pages: 336

Genre: True Crime

     his is the story of a national obsession. Ever since the Ratcliffe Highway Murders caused a nationwide panic in Regency England, the British have taken an almost ghoulish pleasure in 'a good murder'. This fascination helped create a whole new world of entertainment, inspiring novels, plays and films, puppet shows, paintings, and true-crime journalism - as well as an army of fictional detectives who still enthrall us today. A Very British Murder is Lucy Worsley's captivating account of this curious national obsession. It is a tale of dark deeds and guilty pleasures, a riveting investigation into the British soul by one of our finest historians.

      I firmly believe Lucy Worsley has established herself as the go-to presenter for BBC history programs. This is not without a great many years of work on her part. Being Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces does not come so easily. She manages to come off as that one teacher we all have in our past. You know the one, they managed to get you to become passionate about a subject you didn't even realize you loved. So with this in mind, it wasn't till there being of this year that I caught the tv show. I must confess I was binge-watching her shows during lockdown. Now despite this book and tv show coming out some time ago this year she was doing a talking tour for this book. It was here that I picked up a signed copy of the book. It's funny that you would have thought after the first two visits to this material reading the book would have left me with nothing new to take away from this book. 

     Worsley shows me once again her skill at dealing not only with information but her grasp of history. With each time I came to this be it the book, tv show, or seeing her in person giving a talk she managed to find new information and a very entertaining way of telling me a story. Now anyone one of you who has been on the blog before knows how much I enjoy crime and thriller novels. But I have never really given much thought to this obsession we have with crime both in fiction and true crime. So it was a delight to delve into this topic. Worsley has an amazing way of bringing the past to life. She manages to captivate you and with each moving chapter you want to be taught more on the subject she has chosen. But as ever with this author, you not only get to learn about a specific topic here we also get to see what England was like at each of the time periods she has chosen. It is a skill that some of the best teachers have. You never feel like the source material is getting dry or stale. 

     It's funny how often we are taught history in isolation. And in doing so means we are often left with a disjointed concept of history. With Worsley, we get a much bigger sense of the places of things. Here we are treated to a lesson on how the move to big cities in the past drove this lust for knowledge about the most horrific of crimes. For me, it was interesting to see the mirror turned back on myself. I could see within these pages my own obsession with crime and where those roots come from. But as she explains this is hardly a modern fascination. By the time I had gotten to the end of this book, I felt like I was once again enlightened on this subject. It is safe to say that it is not often when I can go through several iterations of the same source material and still enjoy my time with it. But I suppose this is once again a great example of this author's ability to deliver information. It is also a delight to spend time with someone who clearly enjoys what she does so much. It becomes so apparent with the way she lays her words on the page. You just know when an author has a passion for what they write. 

     For me, I could happily recommend any of these iterations to you. But as this is a book review I would probably suggest this one first. She has done an amazing job of bringing this information to life and I firmly believe that any of you could happily slip into this history lesson. For Me, it was interesting to read about people and my own fascination. I don't feel this is often the topic of literature, rather the thing we are obsessed with.  So all around I can highly suggest you give this book ago, just be wear you might just see a little of yourself mirrored back at you.