'Charting transformations in sensational writing from the nineteenth century to contemporary crime fiction, Pamela Newton finds in the social crime fiction genre, a realism based on perceptions of "people, place and politics". Newton explores continuities between the exploration and exploitation of the idea of murder in nineteenth-century narrative and in the work of two contemporary novels: Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost and Peter Temple's The Broken Shore.'
Source: 'Introduction' p.xiv
