Before there was Bandit’s Roost on Substack, there was a monthly newsletter (by the same name). The “Archives” is comprised of all the editions from its launch in January 2022 through to its close in March 2023.
Each edition had a theme and was divided into four parts: an overview of the theme, with three case studies; a review of a research book; a pet peeve (my favourite section, by the way); and vocabulary.
For easy reference, a list of the contents is here:
January 2022
Theme: What do Queen Victoria, streetlamps, and the colour mauve have in common?
Book: Scientific Sherlock Holmes, by James O'Brien
Pet Peeve: Hung vs Hanged
Vocabulary: drawing a wipe; cag-mag and snivellers
February 2022
Theme: Arsenic
Book: Inheritor's Powder, by Sandra Hempel
Pet Peeve: Blades
Vocabulary: clodhopper; covy (covey)
March 2022
Theme: Life of a thief in early 19C Paris
Book: Memoirs, by Eugene Vidoq
Pet Peeve: Cutting your hand
Vocabulary: cracksman; fake
April 2022
Theme: Expert Witnesses
Book: Law, Crime and Deviance Since 1700, ed by Anne-Marie Kilday and David Nash
Pet Peeve: Chloroform
Vocabulary: lushy; ticker
May 2022
Theme: Crimes of Passion
Book: Trials of Passion, by Lisa Appignanesi
Pet Peeve: Left-handed characters
Vocabulary: alienist; bedlam
June 2022
Theme: The fear of Hypnotism
Book: A Companion to Crime Fiction, ed. by Charles J. Rzepka and Lee Horsley
Pet Peeve: Regional Accents
Vocabulary: mesmerism; automaton
July 2022
Theme: Coroner's inquest
Book: The Science of Sherlock Holmes, E. J. Wagner
Pet Peeve: Mud Everywhere
Vocabulary: blowing the gaff; prigging lay; college chum
August 2022
Theme: Formation of the Paris Police
Book: City of Light, City of Poison, by Holly Tucker; The Affair of the Poisons, by Anne Somerset
Pet Peeve: Brides wearing white
Vocabulary: Arsenal; Lettre de cachet (letter of the signet):
September 2022
Theme: Autopsy
Book: Forensic Medicine in Western Society, by Katherine D. Watson
Pet Peeve: Horses running everywhere all the time
Vocabulary: animism; necropsy
October 2022
Theme: Grave robbing
Book: The Italian Boy, by Sarah Wise
Pet Peeve: Shooting into water
Vocabulary: Resurrection men/resurrectionists; corpses (the slang)
November 2022
Theme: Tattoos
Book: I Pierre Riveriere… by Michel Foucault
Pet Peeve: The cold
Vocabulary: Atavism; recidivism
December 2022
Theme: Counterfeit coins
Book: A Counterfeiter's Paradise, by Ben Tarnoff
Pet Peeve: People falling through ice
Vocabulary: uttering; tokens
January 2023
Theme: Counterfeiting paper money
Book: Fight Write, by Carla Hoch
Pet Peeve: Surviving impossible Wounds
Vocabulary: specie; raised bills; shinplasters
February 2023
Theme: Rogues' Gallery
Book: A Guide to Improvised Weaponry, by Terry Schappert and Adam Slutsky
Pet Peeve: The present showing up in the past
Vocabulary: Daguerreotypes; Ambrotypes
March 2023
Theme: Private Detectives
Book: Post Mortem Examinations, by Rudolph Virchow
Pet Peeve: Point-blank Range
Vocabulary: bub and grub; swag