Organisations

Scotland Yard/ The Crime Museum
Broadway
London SW1H OBG
Tel: 020 7230 1212
E-mail: new.scotland.yard@gtnet.gov.uk
Web site: www.met.police.uk
Probably the most famous police address in the world, Scotland Yard is the home of the Metropolitan police. It houses one of the oldest museums in the world for recording crime, the Crime museum, nicknamed the Black museum, which holds weapons, and other evidence that has been gathered in the ‘Yard’s’ investigations. Not open to members of the public, the museum is now used as a lecture theatre for subjects such as criminology and forensic science.

Sherlock Holmes Museum
221b Baker Street
London NW1
England
Website: www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk
Visit this famous address of literature where Holmes and Watson were believed to have lived. The museum aims to be as authentic as possible in order to immerse the visitors in the style of the Victorian era that Holmes would have been accustomed to. The museum also offers a virtual tour on-line.

Murder on the Menu
c/o 10 Canon Lane
Caerwest
Monmouthshire
Wales NP26 4QQ
E-mail: tv@murderonthemenu.co.uk
Website: www.murderonthemenu.co.uk
Interactive mystery entertainments organisation that specialises in ‘whodunits’ cabarets for corporate or private events. Offers a variety of murder mysteries including Murder on the Orient Express.

Mystery Events
c/o 129 Green Lane
St Albans
Herts
AL3 6HG
E-mail: info@mysteryevents.co.uk
Web site: www.mysteryevents.co.uk
Specialists in group participation mystery events. Become a super sleuth as you are given a name and character brief, and through involvement in the story, you pick up clues to the identity of the murderer. Other games include Spy catcher, Impossible Mission and Release the Prisoner.

Websites

The Victorian Web
www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/landow/victorian/victov.html
Comprehensive website exploring literature, history and culture in the age of Queen Victoria.
Sections of interest include social issues and gender.

Victorian Research Web
www.indiana.edu/~victoria/
A research web resource for finding practical information about the Victorian era. Excellent archive and database.

The Workhouse
www.workhouses.org.uk
Dedicated to the history of the Victorian workhouse, this site gives an insight into the lives of the inmates, staff and administrators. Gives another view on life in Victorian England.

The Sherlock Holmes Web
www.sherlockian.net
A complete resource of information about Sherlock Holmes. Resources include the world in which he lived, the literature and of course the mysteries and murders that he solved.

Jack the Ripper Casebook
www.casebook.org
Complete information about the Ripper murders including a time line and facts on the individual victims. Includes games to play on-line such as Ripper Concentration.

Jack The Ripper
www.accomodata.co.uk/jack.htm
This site deals with the Ripper’s infamous murders and how they were reported, the victims and the suspects.

Murder in the UK
www.murderuk.com
Read about historical murders and crimes in the UK including the cases of Mary Ann Cotten and Catherine Wilson, both Victorian poisoners.

Mystery Net
www.mysterynet.com
A site dedicated to those who love a good mystery. Reviews of books, films and television as well as free on-line mysteries for you to solve.

ClueLass
www.cluelass.com
For lovers of crime and detective novels, this site has all the information that you would need. Browse the Blood stained Bookshelf or look up contacts in the Deadly Directory.

Books

Prostitution and the Victorians by Trevor Fisher (Saturn, 1997) £12.99.
An examination of the issues of prostitution in Victorian society. Investigates the extent that it was practised and the attitudes towards it during the period.

Sex Politics and Society: The regulation of sexuality since 1800 by Jeffrey Weeks (Longman Group, 1989) £17.99.
A study of the regulation of sexuality in Britain since 1800, examining changes in ideas, the law, sexual morality, the family, birth control and sexual practice.

Anti-Society: An account of the Victorian underworld by Kellow Chesney (Penguin, 1991) £10.99.
Beneath the respectable surface of Victorian England lay a criminal world. This book looks at the penal methods and recreates the religious fakes, garrotters, pickpockets and prostitutes that dwelled in the cities.

City of Dreadful Delights: Narratives of sexual danger in Victorian London by Judith Walkowitz (Virago Press, 1992) £12.99.
The pleasures of the music hall, spectator sports, the mingling of high and low life, sexual repression, scandal and policing of women as studied in this work on late-Victorian London.

The Making of Victorian Sexuality by Michael Mason (Oxford University Press, 1995) £10.99.
The author argues the case that Victorian sexual moralism was a code intelligently embraced by wealthy and poor alike as part of a human and progressive vision of society’s future.

The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sudgen (Constable Robinson, 1995) £7.99.
Gives complete accounts of the infamous murders from 1888 and uncovers new data including what is apparently a sighting of the murder. Suspects are reassessed and Sudgen challenges the tradition of thought of the identity of the Ripper - with a possibility of an American connection.

Victorian Detective Stories: An Oxford anthology by Michael Cox (Oxford Paperbacks, 1993) £7.99.
The Victorians favored detective stories as they celebrated the human ability to explain and comprehend. This anthology brings together some prolific writers of that time such as Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Sax Rohner and Conan Doyle.

Solve it Yourself Mysteries: Twenty five scenes of the crime puzzles by Christopher Golden (Prima Publishing, 1997) £7.99.
Justin Case, a detective from the Metro Police Department, asks the readers for help in solving a variety of crimes. Pick up on clues that are hidden within the texts and test your powers of detection.

Finger Prints and Talking Bones: How real life crimes are solved by Charlotte Foltz Jones (Bantam Doubleday Publishing Group, 1999) £3.50.
Describes the many different methods used to solve crimes, including skeletal and facial reconstruction, botanical or geological information, voice prints and hypnosis.

The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard by Martin Fido and Keith Skinner (Virgin books, 2000) £10.99.
Scotland Yard is recognised around the world as the premier civilian peacekeeping force. This book reveals the facts and stories of the ‘Yard's’ 170-year history.

Poison Detection in Human Organs by Alan S. Curry (C.C. Thomas, 1988) (American Edition, available via on-line bookstores)
Examines the identification of poisons through the effects on the human body and in particular, on various internal organs.

Games

Cluedo by Hasbro.
Classic ‘whodunit’ board game. Six suspects, a selection of weapons and a number of rooms where the murder could have been committed. Only a process of elimination will lead to the killer being revealed.

Scotland Yard by Ravensburger Games.
One player is Mr X, on the run from Scotland Yard police. Through their powers of deduction the rest of the players have to track him down through the streets of London.

Sherlock Holmes: 221b Baker Street by Gibson Games.
Similar in style to Cluedo, players match their wits against each other to determine who possesses the most skillful powers of deduction.

How To Host A Murder by Decipher Games.
Series of 14 games designed to keep partygoers guessing all night, the aim of the game is for guests to take on the roles of suspects and to try and track down who among them was the culprit.

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