Tag: Victorian
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WRITING NOTES: A Challenge in Miniature, August 2026
For the past month I’ve been working on a short story for this year’s Mysterious Murders Short Story Competition. With a limit of 3,000 words, it’s a challenge I’m enjoying. It’s definitely a smaller word count than the usual 6,000-7,000 words of my Bow Street Society Casebook stories! Every writer will tell you a short…
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BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: RAILWAYS, May 2026
London in the nineteenth century, as now, had a variety of travel options. In this final part of my mini blog series focusing on travel in the metropolis, we’re going to be taking a look at the railway network. In 1896 / 1897 (the setting for my books), both the underground and overground railways were…
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BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: TRAMS, April 2026
We’re stepping back in time and returning to the nineteenth century once again to explore how Londoners travelled from A to B when private carriages and good old-fashioned walking weren’t an option. This month, we’re putting the magnifying glass on trams. Originally powered by steam, these vehicles later made the transition to literal horsepower in…
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BOW STREET SOCIETY’S LONDON: CABS, March 2026
Welcome back to the blog! This month, we continue our exploration into late-nineteenth century transport by examining Cabs, specifically the fares and regulations around their hire. This is a topic close to the heart of the Bow Street Society’s driver Mr Samuel Snyder, who has been a veteran of the two-wheeler cab for decades. The…
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150 YEARS OF THE CRIME MUSEUM, October 2025
An Interview with Dr Clare Smith Regular readers of the blog will know that museums and archives are some of my favourite places to visit, and curators and archivists are some of my favourite people to talk to. Therefore, I’m absolutely delighted to be welcoming Dr Clare Smith back to the blog this month. We…
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VICTORIAN URBAN LEGENDS: Spring-Heeled Jack, September 2025
For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by urban legends and folklore. In fact, many years ago, I created a series of collages depicting the Bloody Mary legend for my A-Level art exhibition. Urban legends can tell us as much about ourselves and human nature as the fantastical creatures and yarns they’re…
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THE FASHION OF THE BOW STREET SOCIETY, May 2025
They say the things we wear say much about us as individuals. This can be equally true for the characters in our favourite book, film, or television series. It’s certainly true for the characters of my Bow Street Society novels and short stories. Yet, despite their clothes saying much about them, I’ve never discussed the…
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ARTFUL FOXES AND BUTTER CHURNS, March 2025
The Slang and Phrases of C19th Theatres & Music Halls In the nineteenth century, as now, slang and peculiar phrases could be heard in all manner of establishments and echelons of society. The music halls and theatres were no different. They, like the pugilists, had their own brand of (often) non-sensical terms to refer to the…