Judith Flanders

Judith Flanders is a British social historian, journalist and author whose books explore the hidden stories of everyday Victorian life. She is the author of several acclaimed works of social history and has written for the Guardian, the Spectator, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Her writing reveals how the familiar surfaces of the past conceal extraordinary stories. The Invention of Murder traces how the Victorians turned murder into a cultural obsession, examining how real killings were transformed into entertainment through penny dreadfuls, broadside ballads, waxworks and the emerging detective fiction genre. The book shows how the Victorians' appetite for murder shaped their literature, theatre, journalism and ultimately their justice system. Available as both a book and an audiobook — narrated by Flanders herself — The Invention of Murder offers gripping listening and reading for true crime fans, history enthusiasts and anyone fascinated by the Victorians' dark and enduring obsession with murder.