On Murder

One of the corner stones of the Gothic which inspired Poe and others. The essay "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" is written in the same jaunty style as Swift's "A modest Proposal" yet dwells on one of the most infamous murders of his day the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders which captured the public imagination until surpassed by the exploits of Jack the Ripper. De Quincy describes the murders in lurid detail getting most of the facts wrong.

This collection also contains the gothic novella"The Avenger".