The book analyses a variety of literary works concerned with crime that tapped into fears relating to contagion, race, and class fluidity; deviant minds and abnormal sexuality; female transgression; male performativity; and the instability of the new body politic. By tracing how writers, scientists, and thinkers engaged with these issues, unveils the mutual network of exchanges that informed national discourses about crime. Stefano Serafini brings attention to a historical moment that was crucial to the development of modern attitudes towards normality and deviance, which continue to circulate widely and still resonate disturbingly in contemporary society.