| Richmond | |
| Author: | Thomas Skinner Surr (or Thomas Gaspey) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Crime |
| Publisher: | Henry Colburn |
| Release Date: | 1827 |
| Media Type: | |
Richmond, or, Scenes in the Life of a Bow Street Officer is an 1827 crime novel published anonymously and often attributed to Thomas Skinner Surr. The journalist Thomas Gaspey has also been credited as the author.[1] [2] It was originally published in three volumes by Henry Colburn of New Burlington Street. It blended a depiction of the crime world of the Regency era with the fashionable silver fork novel, also functioning as an adventure novel.[3] The protagonist Tom Richmond, a picaresque figure, joins the Bow Street Runners after a misspent youth. It forms a bridge been early eighteenth century crime novels such as Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack with the future development of the full detective novel.[4]
It was published shortly before the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Robert Peel. It was part of the group of Newgate novels that lasted into the early Victorian era.[5]