Writing True Crime introduces the aspiring crime writer to the skills needed to write true crime and crime history. The chapters cover everything from finding a subject, working on a creative treatment, and researching in libraries and archives. The reader is given a clear understanding of the craft of writing in this popular and expanding area of writing, with material included from social history, law and criminology in the factual basis of the book. The following areas are covered in de...

“I can’t teach you, but I can show you.” With these words, Kentucky balladeer Doc Hopkins shared his musical knowledge with a willing student, summoning an independent streak deeply embedded in the American character. His words capture the informal creativity and colloquial practice that marks folk tradition as it extends from the countryside to the city and back again.Stephen Wade recounts creators and conservators like Doc Hopkins, many of them born in the closing years of the ni...

In the 1880s, George Grossmith was the dazzling comic star of Gilbert and Sullivan’s immensely popular Savoy operas. London theatregoers waited excitedly for the next production, knowing that George would be cast in the lead role of the ‘patter man’. He was also many other things in his life, including Bow Street court reporter, piano entertainer for high society, and in the 1890s, with his brother Weedon, the author of the humorous classic work of fiction, The Diary of a Nobody, which has...

Passion for the Park is a celebration of the ordinary lover of the beautiful game, the dedicated lads who turn out week after week in the hope of beating another works or pub team. In Park Football the kit is never washed, there is no spare ball, studs are never inspected, there are holes in the goal-netting, the referee is always looking the wrong way, and the only spectators are an old man and his dog. This funny and irreverent memoir charts the author’s own undistinguished football care...

Introduces the aspiring crime writer to the skills needed to write true crime and crime history. The chapters cover everything from finding a subject, working on a creative treatment and researching in libraries and archives. The reader is given a clear understanding of the craft of writing in this popular and expanding area, with material included from social history, law and criminology.

The history and mythology of hangmen in Yorkshire—an account of crime and punishment in England from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century.From the eighteenth century, York was one of the places employing its own hangmen, copying London and Newgate, even to the use of the word Tyburn to define it's Knavesmire gallows, also known as the 'three-legged mare'. That was where highwayman Dick Turpin met his fate. Later, in the Victorian period, Armley Gaol in L...

Once there was a Roman settlement on what is now Filey Brig. In Holderness, a prosperous town called Ravenser saw kings and princes on its soil, and its progress threatened the good people of Grimsby. But the Romans and the Ravenser folk are long gone, as are their streets and buildings sunk beneath the hungry waves of what was once the German Ocean.Lost to the Sea: The Yorkshire Coast & Holderness tells the story of the small towns and villages that were swallowed up by the North Sea. Old...

A comprehensive A-Z guide to notorious and lesser-known extreme crimes, criminals, and legal cases from the 17th century to today.A Dictionary of True Crime is a guide to the most compelling cases of extreme and violent crime in the writing files, from the 17th century to present day. Amongst notorious criminals like Jack the Ripper and the Moors Murderers, lesser-known but provoking cases which have occupied the writer’s mind for some time are also discus...

This biography explores Dorothy L. Sayers' legacy as a crime writer, feminist, scholar, and advertising pioneer, highlighting her lasting influence.Dorothy L. Sayers: the name conjures images of Lord Peter Wimsey's sleuthing adventures, and masterful translations of Dante. Yet, she was more than a literary luminary of the interwar Golden Age of crime fiction; she was a trailblazer, a feminist, and a scholar, whose influence resonates to this day.In this new...

A Straightforward Guide to The Crime Writer's Casebook is an essential research companion for all writers of crime fiction and non-fiction. The Crime Writer's Casebook is unique in that it presents first-hand explanations by Stuart Gibbon, a seasoned London Metropolitan Police detective with over 30 years' experience on the force, with additional commentary from Stephen Wade, a crime historian who has published more than 60 books. The authors work as consultants for crime writers and writi...

Wormwood Scrubs is Britain’s most ‘media-soaked’ prison. Its celebrity inmates have provided the tabloids with many good stories, from Rolling Stone Keith Richards - banged up for drugs offences - to notorious spy George Blake, whose escape enthralled the country. It has entertained the Master of the Queen’s music, Sir Michael Tippett, socialist scrapper Fred Copeman, rebellious soul Pete Doherty, influential writer Joe Orton, lifetime litigant Lord Alfred Douglas, fraudster John Stonehous...

A Straightforward Guide to Being a Detective An A-Z Readers and Writers Guide to Detective Work Past and Present is an essential research companion for all writers of crime fiction and non-fiction. In all genres of popular crime writing today, detective characters figure prominently. What is the life of a detective actually like? What was it like in 1890 or 1990? Former detective Stuart Gibbon and crime historian Stephen Wade answer these questions in this new companion guide. This new vol...