Those Vicious Victorians.

 No one ever appreciated a good murder like the Victorians.  They absolutely reveled in it.  They wrote books, and books, and more books about it.  Rare was the Victorian book that didn't feature, or at least mention, a murder.  If not exactly murder, it was mayhem of some sort, something malicious and malevolent, or at the very least, some general mischief.  The Victorians really knew how to celebrate-and elaborate-when it came to death.  Besides the books, plays were also written, and there were even puppet shows about death.  When a murder was committed, it was sensational news, with pamphlets about the murder printed before the body was cold.  Creepy stories were, if not entirely invented by, most certainly devoured by and delighted in by the Victorians.  They had extensive rituals revolving around death, accompanied by some fantastical fables.  The chic Victorian widow even smoked a special "mourning cigarette."