The Art of the English Murder

From Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes to Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock

By: Lucy Worsley

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Murder: a dark, shameful deed, the last resort of the desperate or a vile tool of the greedy - and a very strange, very English obsession. But where did this fixation develop? And what does it tell us about ourselves? In The Art of the English Murder, Lucy Worsley explores this phenomenon in forensic detail, revisiting notorious crimes like the Ratcliff Highway Murders, which caused a nationwide panic in the early 19th century, and the case of Frederick and Maria Manning, the suburban couple who were hanged after killing Maria's lover and burying him under their kitchen floor. Our fascination with crimes like these became a form of national entertainment, inspiring novels and plays, prose and paintings, poetry and true-crime journalism. The Art of the English Murder is a unique exploration of the art of crime - and a riveting investigation into the English criminal soul.

©2014 Lucy Worsley (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Worsley's vivid account excites as much as its sensational subject matter, and edifies, too, thanks to her learned explications." ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting but distracting narrator

I love Lucy Worsley books and shoes. This narrator was horrible to listen to. She has a strange cadence and sounds like there are marbles in her mouth.

Not my favorite by Lucy Worsley…

…but it’ll do.


I find myself constantly distracted while listening to the book on Audible. I’ll hear something interesting in the book and go to my phone to research a lil further—as the chapter plays on— then I realize I haven’t listened in 10 minutes and have to rewind.

Perfect Autumn Listen

This is a fun book if you're a fan of British history or literature. I enjoyed it very much and it made for a nice companion while reading Sarah Water's Fingersmith in print. It also brought back memories of reading Murder As a Fine Art by David Morrell.

Narrator Anne Flosnik was the perfect choice to voice this book. I just wanted to keep listening to her read this book. Her reading made it clear that she was enjoying the The Art of English Murder just as much as I was.

One note of warning: The complete plot of some classic novels is revealed within this book. As just one example, if you've not read Oliver Twist, this book will contain spoilers.

Finally had to stop at chapter 10

Lucy Worsley is one of my favorite TV hosts. I love her PBS shows of all kinds. This book finally got to me. I was very interested in certain parts, hearing about how the police force in England came about etc. and especially Charles Dickens and other authors. But when she started expounding on the ghastly and repulsive puppetry, I finally had to stop. I like PG-13 murder mysteries but I don't go for the grotesque or excessively violently bloody. No public executions, that would turn my stomach and would cause me too much misery to have to speculate on that part of the human condition. I've often wondered why I am so drawn to murder mysteries but I only want to see, like I said, the PG-13 version of it. I like the puzzles and I like the mystery. Obviously, Agatha Christie is the queen! Of course this book is not in competition with Agatha, it's a different thing altogether.

Interesting History

I had seen the documentary mentioned in the book prior to purchasing this. The book covers similar ground but follows different paths and gets into more detail than the program. I enjoyed the performance of the audiobook, but I admit I had hoped that Lucy would have recorded it herself.

Loved this book!

It's more than true crime. Sure, there's a couple homicides, but much beyond that- social commentary, history, an occasional touch of the macabre. Two thumbs up. Just wish the actual author was narrating it.

IF you're a fan of british murder stories.....

This book focuses on the British fascination with murder. Apparently once public hangings and the ability to trounce all over active murder investigation scenes was denied the British public, this morbid need was replaced with murder mysteries. Or at least that’s Worsley’s theory. She then goes through a history of famous murders and talks about how they worked their way into English Literature. Apparently for instance, readers of Dickens’ time would have known Oliver Twist was a crime novel based on the title, as a twist was slang of the time for someone who hung from a noose; and Austen’s Northanger Abbey wasn’t a romance so much as a sendup of the popular horror novels of her age (the heroine is a young girl who’s read too much of them goes to the abbey expecting ghosts and horror — as the world Abbey would be another keyword in a title that would communicate to readers of the time that this would be a horror book, only to discover more realistically disturbing issues, such as how many rich people of Austen’s time owed their wealth to slavery… something the Austen Biography I read just before this had also discussed). …. and she's very interested in the life stories of female murder writers, much more so than the men... and covers the profession of the genre

Why didn't Lucy narrate this?

Wonderful for true crime fancier. Flosnik sounds like she has loose dentures and mouthful of spit.

Wish Lucy Had Narrated!

Content = Loved it!
Narration = Meh!

If only Lucy had narrated, this would have been a much better listening experience.

Should Come With a Spoiler Alert

The narrator is not very good. There are lots of mispronunciations and her overall tone is kind of awkward in general. I think that my biggest gripe with this piece however, is that it reveals the endings to several books. If you haven't read Bleak House, The Woman in White, The Moonstone, Death at the Priory or The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher I highly suggest you do so BEFORE listing to this particular book, otherwise, Spoiler Alert!, the endings will be ruined for you. Three of the books, whose plots and conclusions are spelled out, are still in my library, "unread". The latter of the five I finished long ago, and I must say that if I had listened to this book before those two I'd be pretty disappointed with the spoiled endings!