Official Rules for British-set Victorian Detective Fiction?
DiscussieHistorical Mysteries
Sluit je aan bij LibraryThing om te posten.
Dit onderwerp is gemarkeerd als "slapend"—het laatste bericht is van meer dan 90 dagen geleden. Je kan het activeren door een een bericht toe te voegen.
1bibliotheque
With all acknowledgements to Alan Fisk (see the "Medieval Detective" rules thread), I'm going to try one of my own for the British Victorians:
1) Detectives must either be a career police officer; rich (preferably titled) and well-connected; or poor, street-savvy and well-connected. Middle-class sleuths are right out!
2) If the detective is a woman, she will be single and beautiful. Men will frequently propose marriage during the course of the series.
3) The Detective will be very au courant with what is happening in the Empire, due either to personal experience or a "dear friend" who has returned "a broken man" from his experiences. The Detective heartily believes that the Empire is a Bad Thing.
4) At some point The Detective will come into contact with a member of the Royal Family or a famous Prime Minister such as Gladstone or Disraeli.
5) At some point the Detective will either find out who Jack the Ripper is, or investigate a case which bears "a marked similarity" to the Ripper murders.
6) The Detective is of a thoroughly atheistical bent, and believes spiritualism is arrant nonsense. (If invited to a seance, s/he will spoil the proceedings by turning on the lights halfway through, revealing the medium in an act of fraud.)
7) The Detective will have to walk the streets of a major city, which will occasion spectacular descriptions of filth and squalor from the writer.
8) The Detective will not even consider using phrenology, face-reading or any of the other crazes beloved of the period when solving the case.
9) The Detective is class-, creed- and colour-blind at all times: even if the writer gives them a knee-jerk reaction at, say, a Scottish person, the Detective will nonetheless treat them with absolute fairness.
10) The Detective's first arrest will be wrong, resulting in a revision of the evidence and a correct accusation in the penultimate chapter. Nice to see some things don't change, eh? ;)
1) Detectives must either be a career police officer; rich (preferably titled) and well-connected; or poor, street-savvy and well-connected. Middle-class sleuths are right out!
2) If the detective is a woman, she will be single and beautiful. Men will frequently propose marriage during the course of the series.
3) The Detective will be very au courant with what is happening in the Empire, due either to personal experience or a "dear friend" who has returned "a broken man" from his experiences. The Detective heartily believes that the Empire is a Bad Thing.
4) At some point The Detective will come into contact with a member of the Royal Family or a famous Prime Minister such as Gladstone or Disraeli.
5) At some point the Detective will either find out who Jack the Ripper is, or investigate a case which bears "a marked similarity" to the Ripper murders.
6) The Detective is of a thoroughly atheistical bent, and believes spiritualism is arrant nonsense. (If invited to a seance, s/he will spoil the proceedings by turning on the lights halfway through, revealing the medium in an act of fraud.)
7) The Detective will have to walk the streets of a major city, which will occasion spectacular descriptions of filth and squalor from the writer.
8) The Detective will not even consider using phrenology, face-reading or any of the other crazes beloved of the period when solving the case.
9) The Detective is class-, creed- and colour-blind at all times: even if the writer gives them a knee-jerk reaction at, say, a Scottish person, the Detective will nonetheless treat them with absolute fairness.
10) The Detective's first arrest will be wrong, resulting in a revision of the evidence and a correct accusation in the penultimate chapter. Nice to see some things don't change, eh? ;)
2aprillee
I've just read a Victorian mystery, Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch, so I'll check to see if the Rules apply!
1. Detective is Charles Lenox, a Gentleman, well-connected, (no-title, however).
2. N/A Although secondary character, Lenox's good friend Lady Jane, is beautiful and one of the suspects does try to hit on her (if that is possible in a Victorian setting).
3.. Lenox reads the papers and has connections in government, so he's fairly au courant. He does decry his lack of attention to the financial news of his time, however, but means to rectify it.
4. He doesn't come in contact with, but mentions Disraeli, being in political circles and all that...
5. This is the first book, so Jack the Ripper may appear later!
6. Not sure about being atheistical! I rather doubt it. I'm sure most will be Church of England, what? Spiritualism hasn't made an appearance, so I don't know his views on that.
7. London... does say that Seven Dials and the Rookery are not very nice...
8. No sign of phrenology.
9. Good friend is a Scot... a doctor, but of the Harley Street variety and has since retired to respectable gentility and married into Debrett's, so not much to be horrified about there.
10. No wrongful arrest, although the culprit was not necessarily suspected at first... (naturally enough).
1. Detective is Charles Lenox, a Gentleman, well-connected, (no-title, however).
2. N/A Although secondary character, Lenox's good friend Lady Jane, is beautiful and one of the suspects does try to hit on her (if that is possible in a Victorian setting).
3.. Lenox reads the papers and has connections in government, so he's fairly au courant. He does decry his lack of attention to the financial news of his time, however, but means to rectify it.
4. He doesn't come in contact with, but mentions Disraeli, being in political circles and all that...
5. This is the first book, so Jack the Ripper may appear later!
6. Not sure about being atheistical! I rather doubt it. I'm sure most will be Church of England, what? Spiritualism hasn't made an appearance, so I don't know his views on that.
7. London... does say that Seven Dials and the Rookery are not very nice...
8. No sign of phrenology.
9. Good friend is a Scot... a doctor, but of the Harley Street variety and has since retired to respectable gentility and married into Debrett's, so not much to be horrified about there.
10. No wrongful arrest, although the culprit was not necessarily suspected at first... (naturally enough).
