A Treasury of Victorian Murder

A Treasury of Victorian Murder

By Rick Geary (NBM/Comics Lit)
ISBN13: 978-1-56163-309-8

This stylish and bookshelf-friendly reissue was first released in 1987 as a broad, slim volume and led to the eccentric ongoing series of books (nine so far) that have captivated so many people around the globe. Geary’s fascination with his subject is irresistibly infectious and his unique cartooning style is a perfect medium to convey the starkly factual narrative in a memorable and undeniably enjoyable manner.

The basic premise is simple. The age of Queen Victoria is ingrained in the psyche of the contemporary world, and this first outpost of modern society invested Murder with a whole new style and morbid popular appeal. Each of the cases the author adapts was big news at the time and still generates familiar stirrings in readers of a later century.

This volume recounts the unsolved case known as ‘The Ryan Mystery’, wherein a brother and sister were brutally slain in New York in 1873, before outlining the fraudulent career and just deserts of a very nasty physician in ‘The Crimes of Dr. E.W. Pritchard’, and concludes with that now-common miscreant, the child-killer (and more besides) in the tale of ‘The Abominable Mrs. Pearcy’.

With the inclusion of highly informative pictorial essays for background this very readable successor to the ‘Penny-Dreadfuls’ is a startling yet accessible read that will engross the fan of graphic narrative and entice the follower of ‘True-Crime’ thrillers.

© 1987, 2007 Rick Geary. All Rights Reserved.