Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published May 2013
368 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
Thomas De Quincey, infamous for his memoir Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, is the major suspect in a series of ferocious mass murders identical to ones that terrorized London forty-three years earlier.
The blueprint for the killings seems to be De Quincey's essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts." Desperate to clear his name but crippled by opium addiction, De Quincey is aided by his devoted daughter Emily and a pair of determined Scotland Yard detectives.
In Murder as a Fine Art, David Morrell plucks De Quincey, Victorian London, and the Ratcliffe Highway murders from history. Fogbound streets become a battleground between a literary star and a brilliant murderer, whose lives are linked by secrets long buried but never forgotten.
"Starred Review. Everything works - the horrifying depiction of the murders, the asides explaining the impact of train travel on English society, nail-biting action sequences - making this book an epitome of the intelligent page-turner." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. [P]age-flipping action, taut atmosphere, and multifaceted characters...Sure to be a hit with the gaslight crowd. - Booklist
"This diverting thriller will please the many readers who enjoy historical crime fiction." - Library Journal
"Fans of Victorian and/or quirky mysteries will find much to enjoy and will likely be willing to forgive the book's substantial flaws." - Kirkus
This information about Murder as a Fine Art was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
David Morrell was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. In 1960. At the age of seventeen he became a fan of the classic television series, route 66, about two young men in a Corvette convertible traveling the United States in search of America and themselves. The scripts by Stirling Silliphant combined action with ideas and so impressed Morrell that he decided to become a writer.
Morrell is best known for his debut 1972 novel First Blood, which would later become the successful Rambo film franchise starring Sylvester Stallone. He is a prolific author, an Edgar and Anthony Award finalist, a Nero and Macavity winner, and recipient of the prestigious career-achievement ThrillerMaster award from the International Thriller Writers. He has written twenty-nine works of fiction, which have been ...
... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to David Morrell's Website
Clytemnestra
by Costanza Casati
Madeline Miller's Circe meets Cersei Lannister in this propulsive and richly drawn debut.
Paper Names
by Susie Luo
A propulsive and sweeping story of family, identity and the American experience—for fans of Jean Kwok and Mary Beth Keane.
30 Copies to Give Away!
Few writers paint three-dimensional characters with such verve and humanism.
―Booklist (starred review)
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
