Murder as a Fine Art
Author: David Morrell

ALA Reading List Award for Best Mystery — GASLIT LONDON IS BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES IN DAVID MORRELL'S BRILLIANT HISTORICAL THRILLER. — 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.

I really enjoyed this blend of historical fact and page-turning excitement. The novel takes place in 1854 London where a grotesque murder seems to mimic some earlier murders committed in 1811 on the Ratcliffe Highway. These murders had terrorized London at the time and the current murders appear to have been a means to do likewise. Thomas De Quincey, who wrote the notorious Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, also wrote an essay titled On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts. This essay detailed the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders almost as if De Quincey had been present at the gruesome events. Is someone using this essay to mimic the original murders? De Quincey happens to be in London with his daughter when these second murders take place and he is considered to be a prime suspect. He is still hooked on opium and must take large quantities of laudanum every day to alleviate his pains and act almost normally. Along with his daughter and the help of two Scotland Yard detectives, he sets out to determine who really is behind these copycat murders and why.

This novel really provided a lot of historical background and it made you feel as if you were transported back to the London of 1854. De Quincey is well-portrayed and makes this novel well worth reading. At one time, I had a copy of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater but it must have been donated or lost during one of my moves. I'll probably seek it out again to read along with De Quincey's other works. Murder as a Fine Art is the first in a trilogy by Morrell featuring De Quincey. I'm looking forward to reading the other two books as well. Really good stuff!

Wishlist tag going to Queen72 in NM. Enjoy!

Thank you for sharing your book with me.