During a bout of insomnia in 1851, Charles Dickens decided to shadow a new addition to the London police force: detectives. For Crime Reads, Tim Mason writes about Dickens’s observations on these ridealongs and how they would go on to inspire essays, plays, and what many consider his greatest novel, Bleak House. “This new detective unit fascinated the public and sparked the imagination of the gregarious Mr. Charles Dickens. Of course he would seek them out! And of course they would be more than ready to accept the attentions of the world’s most famous novelist.”
Image credit: Heritage Auction Gallery
