Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Hunted Down: The Detective Stories of Charles Dickens

By: Contributor(s): Publication details: United Kingdom; Peter Owen Publishers; 2013Edition: 4th Revised editionDescription: 300 Pages; PaperbackISBN:
  • 9780720610000
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 823.8
Summary: Charles Dickens was one of the great pioneers of detective fiction. While the larger-than-life characters in his novels have settled themselves in the public imagination, his detectives have had a profound effect on the development of crime fiction, and Dickens is now seen as the first major publicist for the police detective. In Hunted Down, Peter Haining has assembled a fascinating selection of Dicken's detective stories. Added to these are extracts from the novels in which the men of the law make their mark. These law officers, and the circumstances in which they work, were based on Dickens's observations of the fledgeling police detective force when he was a solicitor's clerk and reporter. He accompanied detectives on their nightly patrols of the streets of London, he witnessed the day-to-day running of police stations, he attended magistrates' courts and was present at murder trials and public executions. Out of these eye-witness experiences grew Mr Nadgett in Martin Chuzzlewit, the first detective in an English novel to play a major role, and Inspector Bucket in Bleak House, who solves the murder of an unscrupulous lawyer. The assorted cast of inspectors, sergeants and constables include also an amateur detective, a river policeman and the prototype of all undercover policemen.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Notes Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Adult and Young Adult 15-17 Karachi Crime 823.8 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Withdrawn Not For Loan Book Bazaar PKLC001948
Book Adult and Young Adult 15-17 Lahore Crime 823.8 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Withdrawn For Sale PKLC001729
Total holds: 0

Charles Dickens was one of the great pioneers of detective fiction. While the larger-than-life characters in his novels have settled themselves in the public imagination, his detectives have had a profound effect on the development of crime fiction, and Dickens is now seen as the first major publicist for the police detective. In Hunted Down, Peter Haining has assembled a fascinating selection of Dicken's detective stories. Added to these are extracts from the novels in which the men of the law make their mark. These law officers, and the circumstances in which they work, were based on Dickens's observations of the fledgeling police detective force when he was a solicitor's clerk and reporter. He accompanied detectives on their nightly patrols of the streets of London, he witnessed the day-to-day running of police stations, he attended magistrates' courts and was present at murder trials and public executions. Out of these eye-witness experiences grew Mr Nadgett in Martin Chuzzlewit, the first detective in an English novel to play a major role, and Inspector Bucket in Bleak House, who solves the murder of an unscrupulous lawyer. The assorted cast of inspectors, sergeants and constables include also an amateur detective, a river policeman and the prototype of all undercover policemen.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.