'If it bleeds, it leads' – this maxim is as true now as it was 300 years ago. Crime is the staple of the news, and our appetite for these dark and dangerous stories shows no sign of abating.
In this colourful history of the wild world of crime reporting since 1700, Duncan Campbell reveals what it's really like to deal with murderers, gangsters, robbers, cat burglars, victims, informers and detectives, looking at the 'hacks in the macs' and the 'Murder Gang' who would go to any lengths to get a story – and serve it up to an ever-eager reading public.
It is not a grim beat; the phrase 'gallows humour' did not come from nowhere. All of human emotion is here: hate, love, greed, desire, fear, jealousy, anger, revenge, redemption, compassion. Crime is a prism through which we see society and its phobias. As the relationships between the press, public, police and criminals are now being questioned as never before, We'll All Be Murdered in Our Beds! tells the compelling, sometimes scandalous tale of the stories and storytellers that have entertained, shocked and appalled us – and will continue to do so.
