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Murder by Candlelight: The Gruesome Crimes Behind Our Romance with the Macabre 1st Edition

by Michael Knox Beran (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 088-4355321979
ISBN-10: 1605988200
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Pegasus Books; 1 edition (August 15, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1605988200
  • ISBN-13: 978-1605988207
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent intertwining of criminal and intellectual history
By K. Hasting on September 3, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This excellent book explores a series of 19th century murders that occurred in London during the height of the Romantic period. Part true crime, part intellectual treatise, Beran skillfully intertwines the stories of the murders themselves and the related preoccupied musings of some of the great thinkers of the period. Beran asks the fundamental question of why we are fascinated by murder and other acts of evil and looks to the great Romantics -- Thomas DeQuincey, Thomas Carlyle and Sir Walter Scott to name a few -- for answers. These writers explored the hideousness of these crimes, the intrusion of true evil into everyday life. In contrast, today's writers approach murder as a puzzle, a problem of social science and data antiseptically removed from the fundamental question of evil. Beran is a very engaging writer with an incredible intellectual range. His breadth of knowledge is most impressive, and he is able to take complex intellectual concepts and make them simultaneously readable and thought provoking. Great read!
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3.0 out of 5 starsAn acquired taste of different styles of writing and subject matter, that unfortunately reads as two different books.
By Elspeth G. Perkin on August 12, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
Murder by Candlelight: The Gruesome Crimes Behind Our Romance with the Macabre is definitely an acquired taste of different styles of writing and subject matter. Part poetic (even riddle-like) scholarly examination of literary examples of the 18th and 19th century and part gripping narrative of bygone crimes escalating in violence and severity of justice but unfortunately many sections requiring unearthly patience from its audience. If it is a question of if this work is informative and entertaining, the answer is yes. When this book finds its course it is vividly fascinating and takes the reader back in time on a macabre tour complete with a brief visit to the infamous Whitechapel district at the very end. The excellent narrative styling that is presented in the various portions that trace the escalation of vice and murder in England from 1823 to 1888 (and even a few notes on crimes into the 21st century) are what I couldn’t put down and wish that this work contained more of.

I won’t even pretend to tell anyone that I understood half of the references in this title. I think I also misunderstood the various blurbs I had read in anticipation for this work and wasn’t fully prepared for this presentation and type of inspection of true crime. I did though learn many tidbits of facts of the private lives, dark thoughts and theories on crime from different writers of the eras that are examined but these poetic styled sections were placed and explained in a haphazard fashion that seemed apart of another book. To be honest, Murder by Candlelight read like two completely separate books; that’s the only way I can describe this work. Too many tangents may dim enthusiasm of this book but it is still well worth reading for those who love historic Gothic subjects and narratives of bygone crimes.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsMurder As Romance
By John D. Cofield TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on December 13, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Great Britain in the early nineteenth century was at a turning point. Rapidly industrializing and experiencing phenomenal social changes as a result, the national mood shifted away from the Reason based society that had dominated during the eighteenth century towards the more emotional and tumultuous Romantic movement. Part of that shift towards Romanticism included a new fascination with crime, especially murder. In Murder By Candlelight Michael Knox Beran examines that fascination by recounting some tales of once notorious murders. Beran's writing style is well suited for his subject, featuring rhetorical flourishes and arch observations which remind his readers of Charles Dickens or Sir Walter Scott.

There are three separate murder cases discussed here, with a fourth segment covering several other crimes which Beran views as foreshadowing the Ripper murders of 1888. All three of these early crimes happened in the first half of the nineteenth century and feature what have become standardized characters in literary murders: the eccentric ill-advisedly carrying large sums of money who is lured to his death; the rumored to be well-off woman who is murdered by her disappointed fiance when he discovers she is not as wealthy as he supposed; and the well-connected aristocrat who is murdered in his own mansion in the smartest section of London. Beran examines each of these cases with a wealth of detail gleaned from newspaper accounts and from trial transcripts. Throughout the book the crime narratives are interspersed with references to literary giants like Sir Walter Scott, Thomas De Quincey, and Thomas Carlyle, whose writings were influenced by media reports of these and other murders.

I enjoyed Murder By Candlelight immensely.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsIt was a little different than I thought it was ...
By Michael Grabowski on September 27, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
It was a little different than I thought it was going to be after reading the reviews. I though that it would mainly be case review or studies. However when it turned to considering psychological profiles it was different although not difficult or incomprehensible.
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5.0 out of 5 starsMurder by Candlelight by Michael Knox Beran Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery
By Raven on January 13, 2016
Format: Hardcover
Murder by Candlelight by Michael Knox Beran

Who doesn’t love a good murder mystery? There are hundreds of detectives series out there in books, true crime novels, dozens of police procedure shows that solve murders, and any number of motion pictures.

But they always say that truth is stranger than fiction. If you want to know where the authors of the books, TV scripts, movie scripts, and stage plays get their ideas, it is that someone somewhere has did something very similar.

This book examines real cases that helped inspire authors in the 1800’s. Authors such as Lord Byron, Mary Shelly, Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas de Quincy, Ann Radcliff, and William Beckford wrote gothic and dark murder mysteries based on the crimes being committed.

This is an examination of four such murders and the effect they had on sensational literature. The author could have chosen many more, but these four examples easily make his point.

“The Murder in the Dark Lane” is an account of the murder of William Weare, a notorious rake and an expert at fleecing unwary young men of their inheritance at games of chance. It is the story of someone who wished to emulate Weare and ended up being robbed of his own money.

When Weare’s body is found in a brook, police work backwards from that point to the dark lane where Weare was actually slain. The motives and planning of the murderer are closely examined, and the mistakes that were responsible for the murderer’s hanging explained.

The effect this had upon contemporary authors is noted with clarity.

“The Mystery of the Mutilated Corpse” tells the story of the murder of Hannah Brown.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome

Love it. Pen and SD card for comparison.

Published 1 month ago by Michelle Sanchez
3.0 out of 5 starsNot like I was expecting. Stories after the introduction

I got this book thinking it would be more of a discussion of society's obsession with murder and where that stemmed from. Read more

Published 2 months ago by ashley
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Why are we so fascinated by the dark?

Published 3 months ago by Charles Z.
5.0 out of 5 starsPage turner!

So good!

Published 4 months ago by Rose Furtney
2.0 out of 5 starsWell written but repetitive

I now know more than I wish I did about 19th century murder. Each case is well developed , but by the time the Ripoer enters , we've heard his story.

Published 5 months ago by jycleaver@aol.com, Joanne Y. Cleaver
5.0 out of 5 starsA superb study of Romantic prose and gruesome homicide

This study of 19th century murder through the lens of the Romantic prose writers, such as Carlyle and DeQuincy, is excellent for several reasons. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Tom McBride
2.0 out of 5 starsThere are so many brilliant books in this crowded genre (Erik Larson's...

I ordered this after reading a very favorable review in the New York Times. Unfortunately, the book didn't live up to the press. Read more

Published 7 months ago by Suzanne
5.0 out of 5 starsWhat an excellent survey of some of historical murder in the 17th ...

What an excellent survey of some of historical murder in the 17th century, but more importantly makes the reader question why society is so drawn to horrible, unimaginable... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Brett Ringger OD

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