''Richmond, or, Scenes in the Life of a Bow Street Officer'' is an 1827

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a profession ...

published anonymously and often attributed to

Thomas Skinner Surr Thomas Skinner Surr (1770–1847) was an English novelist whose most famous work was ''A Winter in London'' (1806). This popular tale of fashionable London life initiated a small genre of "season novels" and influenced silver fork novels in the 1 ...

. The

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Thomas Gaspey has also been credited as the author. It was originally published in three volumes by Henry Colburn of New Burlington Street. It blended a depiction of the crime world of the

Regency era The Regency era of British history is commonly understood as the years between and 1837, although the official regency for which it is named only spanned the years 1811 to 1820. King George III first suffered debilitating illness in the lat ...

with the fashionable silver fork novel, also functioning as an

adventure novel Adventure fiction is a type of fiction that usually presents danger, or gives the reader a sense of excitement. Some adventure fiction also satisfies the literary definition of romance fiction. History In the introduction to the ''Encycloped ...

. The protagonist Tom Richmond, a picaresque figure, joins the

Bow Street Runners The Bow Street Runners were the law enforcement officers of the Bow Street Magistrates' Court in the City of Westminster. They have been called London's first professional police force. The force originally numbered six men and was founded in 1 ...

after a misspent youth. It forms a bridge been early eighteenth century crime novels such as ''

Moll Flanders ''Moll Flanders'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, wit ...

'' and ''

Colonel Jack ''Colonel Jack'' is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. The considerably longer title under which it was originally published is ''The History and Remarkable Life of the truly Honourable Col. Jacque, commonly call'd Col. Jack, who ...

'' with the future development of the full

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

. It was published shortly before the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Robert Peel. It was part of the group of Newgate novels that lasted into the early

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

.Moon p.20

References

Bibliography

* Garside, Peter & O'Brien, Karen Elisabeth . English and British Fiction, 1750-1820''. Oxford University Press, 2015. * Kucich, John & Taylor, Jenny Bourne (ed.) ''The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 3: The Nineteenth-Century Novel 1820-1880''. OUP Oxford, 2012. * Moon, Jina. ''Domestic Violence in Victorian and Edwardian Fiction''. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. 1827 British novels Novels by Thomas Skinner Surr Novels by Thomas Gaspey British crime novels Novels set in London Henry Colburn books {{1820s-novel-stub