A Curiosity of Crime

Welcome

…to the research site for writers of historical crime fiction (and the “criminally curious”).

You’re writing a crime novel set in the 1800s. You want:

• the murder to be credible,

• the physical evidence accurate,

• the methods of policing realistic,

• the science to be true.

But you don’t have the time (or the patience) to search for and read through pages of irrelevant information to find what you need.

A Curiosity of Crime brings together the forensics, policing, and social context of the nineteenth century to enrich your fiction and reduce time researching.

It answers such questions as:

• Can a bullet lead my detective to my murderer? Can a shoe print?

• When were poisons detectable in autopsies? How did they prove a person was poisoned before then?

• What bits of medical information do I need to know even if my characters don’t?

Keep an eye out for tidbits to help enrich your fiction. For example, did you know:

• green dresses could be deadly?

• cosmetics were bad for your health?

• bedlam was a real place?