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Mr. Dickens #1
文豪ディケンズと倒錯の館
Set largely in April and May of 1851, this novel explores the relationship of Charles Dickens with novelist Wilkie Collins and Inspector William Fred of the Metrop olitan Protectives of London, one of the first professional detectives. Delightful mystery and historical pastiche in the tradition of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.
508 pages, 文庫
First published January 1, 1990
20 people are currently reading
234 people want to read
About the author
William J. Palmer
36 books8 followersWilliam J. Palmer (born 1943) is a professor of English and the author of the "Mr. Dickens" series of Victorian murder mysteries. The "Mr. Dickens" series of four Victorian murder mysteries -- The Detective and Mr. Dickens, The Highwayman and Mr. Dickens, The Hoydens and Mr. Dickens, and The Dons and Mr. Dickens -- is going to be re-released by Diversion Books in April 2015.
He has written seven novels thus far, including his Wabash Trilogy. These three novels, a sports novel, a crime novel, and a comic novel about theater, are all set in the Wabash valley of Indiana. Academically, Palmer has written books and articles on the nature of literary criticism and the history of film.
Dr. Palmer received his doctorate in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1969, and taught at Purdue University beginning in 1969. He attained the rank of full professor there and is now professor emeritus. He received Purdue's "Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award" for academic year 1998-1999, and he was a member of the elite "Purdue Teaching Academy"
He has written seven novels thus far, including his Wabash Trilogy. These three novels, a sports novel, a crime novel, and a comic novel about theater, are all set in the Wabash valley of Indiana. Academically, Palmer has written books and articles on the nature of literary criticism and the history of film.
Dr. Palmer received his doctorate in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1969, and taught at Purdue University beginning in 1969. He attained the rank of full professor there and is now professor emeritus. He received Purdue's "Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award" for academic year 1998-1999, and he was a member of the elite "Purdue Teaching Academy"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 10, 2019
The Detective and Mr. Dickens is written by Dickens scholar William J Palmer and it is what we used to call a hoot. The story is not told by Charles himself but by his friend and contemporary Wilkie Collins, author of The Woman in White and The Moonstone. One reviewer complained that this novel was pornographic-it's not but it does portray a London that is not full of rainbows and moonbeams. The author deftly mixes fact and fiction and I think Palmer has crafted a fascinating book-but it is indisputably a dark ride. From what I have read of Victorian London I think Palmer is on target in his portrayal of the dark side of the era in question. So if you are looking for a cozy mystery Constant Reader this book is not for you-it has all the messiness real life possesses. The only reason I cannot give this book five stars is the structure of the book itself-the author deflates a lot of the incipient tension by starting the book at *MINOR SPOILER* Dicken's funeral-so we know nothing is going to happen to Dickens or for that matter Collins from the outset this removes some of the dramatic tension. If you know enough about Dickens personal history the events The Detective and Mr. Dickens interweave into the narrative won't surprise you, but there is no reason to remove all doubt.
April 8, 2012
I really didn't like this first entry in the series but liked the behind the scenes look at the lives of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. Palmer is a respected historian on Dickens and I fear the historian in him took over, making it feel dry. These arid spells robbed the other more intriguing scenes and information. Why I originally picked up this book and series is because the friendship between these two authors has always captivated me, thankfully Palmer is at his strongest and most compelling when exploring this.
Despite my low rating I went on to read the next book and pick up the final two. I wonder now if I would appreciate some of those drier sections more? I liked the second one better because he let the story take center stage instead of his knowledge. For anyone interested in Dickens or Collins, or their fascinating friendship, should consider this series and start with this book. If you only want a pretty picture of these two men and the Victorian times, or are expecting a light cozy historical mystery, then stay far away. Palmer delves into the seedier, uglier sides of their nature and friendship and deals frankly with sex, drugs and other adult situations.
Despite my low rating I went on to read the next book and pick up the final two. I wonder now if I would appreciate some of those drier sections more? I liked the second one better because he let the story take center stage instead of his knowledge. For anyone interested in Dickens or Collins, or their fascinating friendship, should consider this series and start with this book. If you only want a pretty picture of these two men and the Victorian times, or are expecting a light cozy historical mystery, then stay far away. Palmer delves into the seedier, uglier sides of their nature and friendship and deals frankly with sex, drugs and other adult situations.
June 27, 2013
This book is based upon real facts, but is a fictional account of what might have transpired during a period in 1851 involving Dickens and Wilkie Collins. It seems very real in certain parts (so much so that I found myself checking the back of the book just to be sure it wasn't actually from Wilkie Collins' diary), but closer to the end, when they become involved in some fights and chases, it's obvious it was written not that long ago. The chase scenes are too much like today's action movies (they go on too long, as well, just like action movies' scenes do) and the fights are the same - too detailed and too long (and also a bit too obviously imagined). But I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who doesn't know much about Dickens' life - the footnotes tell quite a lot about the research the author has done.
December 11, 2008
Great historical mystery with very believable framing device. Writers and friends Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins work their way into a mystery in Victorian London. The setting characters and personal facts blend well with the story.
December 20, 2010
Just too ridiculously vulgar. Seriously nasty. Vile. Gross.pornographic. Yuck. Icky. Charles Dickens would roll over in his grave. Pissed me off.
May 21, 2019
Charles Dickens and his protégé, fellow author Wilkie Collins, become involved in a murder investigation after befriending Inspector Field of the Metropolitan Protectives. An entertaining enough read, but it would have benefitted from more time being spent on fleshing out the characters and less on adding a gazillion explanatory footnotes.
December 6, 2015
As I've stated previously, I love the historical mystery genre. This one is not quite in the league of Caleb Carr's The Alienist, and it's less cerebral than The Dante Club, but definitely an enjoyable light read that I recommend.
December 11, 2021
Well written, but exceedingly vile.
October 15, 2025
I haven’t read every book Charles Dickens wrote, but I’ve read enough to know I don’t care for them too much. Wide-eyed orphans dressed in rags and holding cups asking for “more” just aren’t my cup of tea. It’s not that I don’t care for the homeless and hungry, especially children. I do. I care for them in literature, too, just not in Dickens. When I read Drood by Dan Simmons, however, I learned that even if I don’t care for Dickens’s books too much, I am fascinated by the man, himself. This fascination was only enhanced by reading several biographies of Dickens. So, keeping Drood in mind, and how much I enjoyed that book, I went searching for other books in which Dickens is a character. Luckily, I found a series, albeit short, as of the writing of this review, by William J Palmer. I chose to read The Detective and Mr. Dickens.
Palmer’s narrator is Wilkie Collins, who actually was a friend of Dickens and was often a guest at Gad’s Hill Place, Dickens’s home in the country. Collins is relating a story, which actually begins at Dickens’s funeral, filled with suspense and hijinks that occurred when he went “along for the ride” as Dickens assists a Detective Harris in a murder investigation in London. Much of the action, though not all of it, takes place in and around Covent Garden and involves London’s theatrical set as well as some members of high society. Of course, this particular murder never took place and Wilkie Collins did not write this book nor is it based on any papers unearthed by anyone after Collins’s death. Still, it’s believable, and it’s also a lot of fun. This is a book in which the solving of the crime is far more imporant than the crime, itself, i.e., the identity of the murder victim(s) isn’t all that important. They didn’t really exist.
Although I’m glad I wasn’t born in Victorian times, I love novels that take place in that era, as long as they take place in England, and Palmer makes good use of the time period and place in which his book is set. For me, that just added to the fun.
Another fun, but not accurate, fact in this book is Dickens’s initial meeting with the young actress, Ellen Ternan. As the story proper opens, Dickens is mourning the death of his youngest child, Dora, and is recently separated from his wife, Kate. He has yet to meet the woman who would be his lover for the rest of his life, Ellen Ternan. In actuality, Dickens met Ternan when both were acting in a play Dickens was producing, “The Frozen Deep.” In The Detective and Mr. Dickens, Dickens and and Ternan meet during the staging of another play, “Hamlet.” I’m just guessing, but I think Palmer changed the play because he didn’t want Dickens tied up (not literally) with the production of and acting in a play every night. The fact that the meeting of Dickens and his lover isn’t historically accurate didn’t bother me one bit, but I suppose your reasons for reading the book might have something to do with whether or not this detail is important to you. I was just looking for a book that featured Charles Dickens as a character, not a Dickens biography, so the made up things were just fine with me. The fact that the book offers some very comical and lighthearted moments was also a bonus for me. I usually read very serious or tragic books and I was looking for a break from that.
One of the things I didn’t particularly like, but Palmer couldn’t really help, was the great amount of Cockney accents in the book. I find it very irritating. People may be poor, hungry, and even unclean, but they can still learn to speak properly and pronounce the letter “h.” But, even Detective Harris speaks with a Cockney accent, no doubt because the man is based on a real person, William Field, a real life detective with the newly-formed Metropolitan Protectives, and the inspiration for the fictionalized Inspector Bucket in Dickens’s novel Bleak House, one of Dickens’s books, along with Great Expectations) that I actually like. Anyway, if you’re thinking of reading The Detective and Mr. Dickens book, be aware that it contains a lot of written English-with-a-Cockney-accent. Some won’t mind that, whereas others will find it make the book unreadable.
When giving a book a star rating, I rate by what the book purports to be. The Detective and Mr. Dickens doesn’t purport to be great literature as perhaps Ulysses by James Joyce or The Waves by Virginia Woolf might do. No, of course, this romp through Victorian London isn’t as serious as the above two books are, and people probably won’t be reading this book in 100 years, but who knows? I just wanted to be clear that I didn’t rate the book as being the equal of the other two books as literature, but as a five-star read for those of us who are looking for something a little lighthearted.
5/5
Recommended: If you’re looking fot a fun mystery in the company of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
Please visit my author Website at bellagrimaldi.com
Palmer’s narrator is Wilkie Collins, who actually was a friend of Dickens and was often a guest at Gad’s Hill Place, Dickens’s home in the country. Collins is relating a story, which actually begins at Dickens’s funeral, filled with suspense and hijinks that occurred when he went “along for the ride” as Dickens assists a Detective Harris in a murder investigation in London. Much of the action, though not all of it, takes place in and around Covent Garden and involves London’s theatrical set as well as some members of high society. Of course, this particular murder never took place and Wilkie Collins did not write this book nor is it based on any papers unearthed by anyone after Collins’s death. Still, it’s believable, and it’s also a lot of fun. This is a book in which the solving of the crime is far more imporant than the crime, itself, i.e., the identity of the murder victim(s) isn’t all that important. They didn’t really exist.
Although I’m glad I wasn’t born in Victorian times, I love novels that take place in that era, as long as they take place in England, and Palmer makes good use of the time period and place in which his book is set. For me, that just added to the fun.
Another fun, but not accurate, fact in this book is Dickens’s initial meeting with the young actress, Ellen Ternan. As the story proper opens, Dickens is mourning the death of his youngest child, Dora, and is recently separated from his wife, Kate. He has yet to meet the woman who would be his lover for the rest of his life, Ellen Ternan. In actuality, Dickens met Ternan when both were acting in a play Dickens was producing, “The Frozen Deep.” In The Detective and Mr. Dickens, Dickens and and Ternan meet during the staging of another play, “Hamlet.” I’m just guessing, but I think Palmer changed the play because he didn’t want Dickens tied up (not literally) with the production of and acting in a play every night. The fact that the meeting of Dickens and his lover isn’t historically accurate didn’t bother me one bit, but I suppose your reasons for reading the book might have something to do with whether or not this detail is important to you. I was just looking for a book that featured Charles Dickens as a character, not a Dickens biography, so the made up things were just fine with me. The fact that the book offers some very comical and lighthearted moments was also a bonus for me. I usually read very serious or tragic books and I was looking for a break from that.
One of the things I didn’t particularly like, but Palmer couldn’t really help, was the great amount of Cockney accents in the book. I find it very irritating. People may be poor, hungry, and even unclean, but they can still learn to speak properly and pronounce the letter “h.” But, even Detective Harris speaks with a Cockney accent, no doubt because the man is based on a real person, William Field, a real life detective with the newly-formed Metropolitan Protectives, and the inspiration for the fictionalized Inspector Bucket in Dickens’s novel Bleak House, one of Dickens’s books, along with Great Expectations) that I actually like. Anyway, if you’re thinking of reading The Detective and Mr. Dickens book, be aware that it contains a lot of written English-with-a-Cockney-accent. Some won’t mind that, whereas others will find it make the book unreadable.
When giving a book a star rating, I rate by what the book purports to be. The Detective and Mr. Dickens doesn’t purport to be great literature as perhaps Ulysses by James Joyce or The Waves by Virginia Woolf might do. No, of course, this romp through Victorian London isn’t as serious as the above two books are, and people probably won’t be reading this book in 100 years, but who knows? I just wanted to be clear that I didn’t rate the book as being the equal of the other two books as literature, but as a five-star read for those of us who are looking for something a little lighthearted.
5/5
Recommended: If you’re looking fot a fun mystery in the company of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
Please visit my author Website at bellagrimaldi.com
September 30, 2021
I have this on my kindle and it wasn't too bad a book, but it became a bit laboured in the middle. I felt it could have been made much shorter. I was originally hooked in by the story but became less so as it went along. Nevertheless the plot was fairly good, Dickens and Wilkie Collins roaming around London at night and happening to bump into Inspector Field of the London Protective (police) at a hanging in the early hours, the descriptions are very good, and then getting drawn into working alongside Field in helping him with his investigations in the murky underbelly of london miscreants, and in the particularly bad underworld involving an aristocrat, the murder of a man in his circle and the buying of underage girls and drugging them for well you know what purpose. As I say the plot is good but the writing does seem laboured in the middle part of the book. I don't think this is still available on kindle now.
February 25, 2017
The publisher dropped the ball on copyediting. There are some embarrassing grammar errors and the attempts at Cockney accents are mostly annoying. The sense of audience is none too clear: on one hand, the author dumbs down information about Victorian literary life and provides footnotes to what would be common knowledge for those who have read biographies of Dickens. I imagine this dumbing down is done to appeal to popular or even young adult readers. On the other hand, there are jokey references that would go over the heads of those not familiar with Bleak House. The interest in Victorian porn would remove the book from the young adult section. So I am not sure just who the intended readers might be.
September 21, 2024
Interesting premise by a writer who knows the Victorian period inside and out. Palmer is a Professor Emeritus in English Lit at Purdue, and his understanding of Dickens and his peers is evident in this literary mystery. The damsel in distress story line is overdone, however, and the novel revels in the Victorian underbelly of prostitution and hustling. The use of Cockney accents becomes distracting rather than enhancing the atmosphere. Intriguing, but I won’t read more in the series.
September 15, 2019
A splendid read
This is the second series I have found with amateur sleuth Charles Dickens, and I enjoyed it immensely! The characters are likeable; the story is good ( although I could do without the gratuitous erotica) and moves well. Am looking forward to the next installment of Dickens exploits.
This is the second series I have found with amateur sleuth Charles Dickens, and I enjoyed it immensely! The characters are likeable; the story is good ( although I could do without the gratuitous erotica) and moves well. Am looking forward to the next installment of Dickens exploits.
May 3, 2023
Very disappointing. Large portions of this book are not just indecent but prurient. Apparently not meant to be read be women, since the author (in his Collins persona) depicts nearly all of them in extremely demeaning ways, using words I cannot repeat. I will not be reading any more of this series. Too disgusting and depressing.
November 2, 2020
I would have enjoyed it
better if I knew anything
about Charles Dickens
beyond the fact that he was
an author and what a few of his books were.
I did recommend it to someone I know who loves Dickens.
better if I knew anything
about Charles Dickens
beyond the fact that he was
an author and what a few of his books were.
I did recommend it to someone I know who loves Dickens.
March 6, 2019
Loved it.
January 27, 2022
Would have been much better but for the unnecessary and distracting passages rife with graphic sexual descriptions - WHY? These did nothing at all for the story.
January 30, 2023
This books suffered from an overabundance of naked female bodies and some good editing.
June 23, 2023
My second historical read that I read and enjoy. I had a hard time getting thou, because the Style of writing. But I really enjoy it. I love Mysteries 😍
May 19, 2022
Superb!
January 24, 2014
Set largely during April and May of 1851, this novel explores the relationship of Dickens and Collins with Inspector William Field of the Metropolitan Protectives of London, on of the first professional detectives. Interweaving fact with fiction, the plot draws them together to solve a brutal murder - a murder that has its roots in the Covent Garden production of Macbeth.
The investigation coincides with an agonizing period for Dickens during which death seems to be closing in on him. As Dickens and Field, observed by the fledgling author Collins, comb London's back streets for the murderer, Dickens is drawn ever closer to a woman who will change his life: Ellen Ternan, the young actress who will become his mistress and his greatest love.
This novel is filled with a varied and colorful cast. A tour through London's underworld and upper crust, this book gives a glimpse into the mind and art of Englnd's greatest novelist.
I have never considered myself a prude, but maybe I am. I found many pages of this book too graphic for my tasstes. I felt much of it was unnecessary to move the plot forward. If this had been the first in this series I read, I would go no further. Luckily I have read others that were much better reads.
The investigation coincides with an agonizing period for Dickens during which death seems to be closing in on him. As Dickens and Field, observed by the fledgling author Collins, comb London's back streets for the murderer, Dickens is drawn ever closer to a woman who will change his life: Ellen Ternan, the young actress who will become his mistress and his greatest love.
This novel is filled with a varied and colorful cast. A tour through London's underworld and upper crust, this book gives a glimpse into the mind and art of Englnd's greatest novelist.
I have never considered myself a prude, but maybe I am. I found many pages of this book too graphic for my tasstes. I felt much of it was unnecessary to move the plot forward. If this had been the first in this series I read, I would go no further. Luckily I have read others that were much better reads.
March 22, 2012
Started out strong, ended up irritating. The basic premise of a "lost memoir" of Wilkie Collins recounting how he and Charles Dickens wound up helping the police with a murder investigation was good, along with the research into Dickens's and Collins's lives and London of that time. After a bit, though, the characters become too self-consciously flawed and the memoir becomes too "modern," with "Collins" repeatedly emphasizing how what he is writing can be graphic because it won't be printed until, roughly, this book came out (1990). The author makes a good point on how even Dickens had to not make the seedier side of life too explicit in his writing so that his books could be published, but he then goes overboard with the nudity and cussing, complete with a gratuitous catfight between prostitutes. The author also gets lazy when, using a new term randomly, it'll then pop up again and again soon after. On another note, he had one of the dates of the chapters as April 31 (??? - was there a different calendar then?). Bottom line: in most cases, Dickens was right - less is more.
November 23, 2010
I love Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Victorian mysteries, and literary pastiche. So why do I not love this book? Well, for starters, it doesn't even sound like it's from the Victorian era. The prose is obviously contemporary.
The 'mystery' is neither compelling nor grotesque enough to keep me wondering whodunit--after a while, I didn't really care. An important sub-plot with Wilkie Collins being in love (lust) with a prostitute (with a heart of gold and proto-feminist ideals) is unconvincing. Palmer also manages to get some pretty ridiculous scenes in this book--mostly of a bawdy nature, such as one involving Collins getting mixed up in a catfight which ends up with both women becoming disrobed.
In addition, this may be a small matter, but there were quite a few typos in my copy (a first edition, which I got for about 50 cents at a book sale). Very distracting, when it's already hard to stay focused on the bad writing.
The 'mystery' is neither compelling nor grotesque enough to keep me wondering whodunit--after a while, I didn't really care. An important sub-plot with Wilkie Collins being in love (lust) with a prostitute (with a heart of gold and proto-feminist ideals) is unconvincing. Palmer also manages to get some pretty ridiculous scenes in this book--mostly of a bawdy nature, such as one involving Collins getting mixed up in a catfight which ends up with both women becoming disrobed.
In addition, this may be a small matter, but there were quite a few typos in my copy (a first edition, which I got for about 50 cents at a book sale). Very distracting, when it's already hard to stay focused on the bad writing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2010
Certainly for more sexually explicit than one would imagine a book set in that time period, it is a cracking good story with many real people and events thrown in for good measure.[return][return]Palmer does tend to liberally use sensationalism for its own sake, and not to move the story along. My guess is that he wanted to illustrate that sexual depravity wasn't anything new. That even supposed upper class people were just as apt to be involved in perversion as anyone else.[return][return]Palmer's characters, as depicted in the book, were interesting and the use of the First Person narrative makes it seem like we are actually witnessing the same events as Wilkie, the teller of the tale.[return][return]Worth a read, whether you are a fan of Dickens or not.
May 2, 2015
“Someday the world shall learn the truth about Charles and Ellen, but the world shall not learn of them from me.”
In Victorian London 1851, Charles Dickens and his protégé Wilkie Collins partnered-up with Inspector Detective William Field of the newly formed Metropolitan Protectives to solve a brutal murder. The murder became the catalyst to the alliance forged between Charles Dickens and Ellen Ternan, the love of his life.
Based on real people and documented events, Palmer does a bang-up job of putting his readers in the thick of it. This was a romp through the underbelly of suspense, and a side of Dickens – through the speculation of Palmer, that is quite plausible.
If you like 19th Century England, Charles Dickens and the characters he writes about, you’ll like this book.
In Victorian London 1851, Charles Dickens and his protégé Wilkie Collins partnered-up with Inspector Detective William Field of the newly formed Metropolitan Protectives to solve a brutal murder. The murder became the catalyst to the alliance forged between Charles Dickens and Ellen Ternan, the love of his life.
Based on real people and documented events, Palmer does a bang-up job of putting his readers in the thick of it. This was a romp through the underbelly of suspense, and a side of Dickens – through the speculation of Palmer, that is quite plausible.
If you like 19th Century England, Charles Dickens and the characters he writes about, you’ll like this book.
January 20, 2008
This was just as interesting as it claims to be. Although, it was a little difficult to get into at first since it is 19th century language. It's also not for the faint of heart, because there are quite a few extremely pornographic scenes (direct excerpts from novels of the day, glimpses into brothels, etc). Truly enjoyable, poignant at times, and occasionally humorous. The ending was quite abrupt, since that was where Collins' journal left off (might have been meant to end there, could have not). One last note: like the summary says, you don't have to be familiar with Dickens' novels to enjoy this, although you would probably get more out of it if you did.
September 5, 2007
I don't know how closely some of the minor events parallel to Dickens' real life but it does a convincing job. Murder, explicit naughtiness and intrigue, all written in Victorian style. Well done.
June 20, 2013
Good premise, awful execution. Especially annoying was the author's attempt to write cockney (or something like that) dialect, which made much of the dialog totally unreadable.
January 1, 2010
This is a very enjoyable read. I would recommend this to the Dickens fan, as well as all mystery lovers. Palmer does an exceptional job guiding you through Victorian England.
July 26, 2011
Great premise, and fairly interesting--till it got too rude and crude for my tastes.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews