Most of Marsh’s popular novels situate the figure from the East/Orient on the evil side portraying them as vengeful and murderous who appear in London to disturb the lives of innocent Englishmen. The idea of the East or the Orient as mysterious, dark and sinister was extremely popular in the nineteenth century Britain and authors played upon that to gain readership. However, it was also the time when major portions of the Eastern world was still colonised by the European powers and a significant reflection of that colonial approach can be traced in Richard Marsh’s writing as well. to name a few along with cheap serial literature such as those published as “Penny dreadful,” (each volume cost a penny) thrillers and horror literature evolved greatly. With books like Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Yeti etc. Nineteenth century was the era of thrillers, horror and mystery literature capturing the market. Most of his novels followed a murder mystery, moving through a carefully crafted series of spine – chilling events and in the end revealing some sort of supernatural involvement that initiated the action of the plot. Marsh’s style of writing was deeply engaging. The Joss: A Reversion written in 1901, similarly follows the story of an Englishman who transforms himself into an Oriental idol, haunting Mary Blyth, his niece who comes to inherit his house. It was serialized in Manchester Weekly Times and Salford Weekly Times in twelve installments between January 1900 to March 1900. The book was not as successful as The Beetle but it is Marsh’s one of the most recognized publications. The Goddess: A Demon written in 1990, narrated the story of an Indian sacrificial idol who comes to life with evil intent and once more, wrecks havoc in the lives of the people living in London. Richard Marsh’s famous work – the Beetle Richard Marsh Beetle – What other novels did he write?Īpart from The Beetle, Marsh wrote several other horror novels that were immensely successful. The story is narrated from the perspectives of multiple characters, a technique used in many nineteenth century novels (just like those by Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker) to build in suspense.
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