 | |
| Author | Thomas Skinner Surr (or Thomas Gaspey) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime |
| Publisher | Henry Colburn |
Publication date | 1827 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
Richmond, or, Scenes in the Life of a Bow Street Officer is an 1827 crime novel published anonymously and often attributed to Thomas Skinner Surr. The journalist Thomas Gaspey has also been credited as the author. [1] [2] 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 with the fashionable silver fork novel, also functioning as an adventure novel. [2] The protagonist Tom Richmond, a picaresque figure, joins the Bow Street Runners after a misspent youth. It forms a bridge been early-eighteenth-century crime novels such as Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack with the future development of the full detective novel. [1]
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. [3]
