City mysteries

City mysteries are a 19th-century genre of popular novel, in which characters explore the secret underworlds of cities and reveal corruption and exploitation, depicting violence and deviant sexuality. They were popular in both Europe and the United States. All were inspired by the very successful serial novel The Mysteries of Paris (1842) by Eugène Sue.

Notable examples include:

• Les Vrais Mystères de Paris (1844) by Eugène François Vidocq
• The Mysteries of London (1844) by George W. M. Reynolds
• Quaker City, or the Monks of Monk Hall (1845) by George Lippard
• "Venus in Boston" (1849) by George Thompson
• "City Crimes" (1849) by George Thompson
• "The Mysteries of Lisbon" (1854) by Camilo Castelo Branco
• "The Slums of Petersburg" (1866) by Vsevolod Krestovsky
• Les Mystères de Marseille by Émile Zola
• The Mysteries of London by George W. M. Reynolds
• Les Mystères de Londres by Paul Féval
• Les Mystères de Lyon (featuring the Nyctalope) by Jean de La Hire
• I misteri di Napoli by Francesco Mastriani,
• Les Nouveaux Mystères de Paris by Léo Malet,
• Die Mysterien von Berlin by August Brass,
• Die Geheimnisse von Hamburg by Johann Wilhelm Christern,
• De Verborgenheden van Amsterdam by L. van Eikenhorst