‘Dickens and The Victorian Thriller’

‘Dickens and The Victorian Thriller’ is one of the literary events that were sponsored by TCM Crime Scene 2008. Ann Perry was one of the guest speakers at this event. Although this event was titled ‘Dickens and The Victorian Thriller’ none of the guest speakers’ expertise was Dickens, only the moderators really had any great knowledge of Dickens. Ann Perry and the rest of the guest speakers’ expertise was in the writing of mystery novels that are set in the Victorian Era. None of the writers were historians or experts on the Victorian Era but they all do their research for their novels based on their own ideas or stories that are found in newspapers. The literary event’s focus was on the mystery novel, although the moderator kept trying to bring the focus back to Dickens, and it was interesting to hear what the writers had to say about why they write what they do. Ann Perry mentioned that she decided to write in the Victorian Era because of its interesting nature; Jack the Ripper and other criminals’ real identity were never discovered, families had secrets that they would pay to keep quiet, and a person would do anything to keep their reputation. The novels from all three writers are set in England and because of this the heroes in the stories have different difficulties that they deal with. the writers all agree that their characters are not often in situations where they find themselves in bodily danger but they do find things and people that they care about it situations beyond their control that are dangerous and potentially deadly. After hearing the authors’ reasons for writing in the Victorian Era is helped me understand the English mystery genre more fully because I now know what to look for within the novels.