Crime fiction emerged as a genre in the Victorian period alongside real-life developments in policing and detection. In The Moonstone (1868), Wilkie Collins portrays both professional and amateur detectives involved in the investigation to find the missing jewel. While characters drawn from different classes unite to solve the case, detection remains a masculine activity. In the novel, women are depicted as largely secretive and inscrutable. This article explores the relationship between class, gender and detective work.
Crime and punishment had long featured in popular writing but detective fiction arose as a distinctive genre in the midnineteenth century. During the 1700s, law and order had been imposed by local magistrates (usually landowners) and constables (often ex-soldiers with limited training). By the nineteenth century, there was increasing recognition that the system needed improvement. In 1829, police were introduced to London in parishes within 12 miles of Charing Cross. Their work was dedicated to crime prevention until 1842, when a detective branch was added to investigate crime. Changes also took place across England and Wales: during the 1830s counties and boroughs could set up their own police forces and from 1856 they were compelled to do so.
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