GANGLANDTHE EARLY YEARSBy James MortonTimeWarner Books, 18.99Jeremy Fleming

Gazette columnist James Morton's most recent tome has something of a curious title: Gangland - The Early Years.

Criminals did not appear from nowhere between 1866 and 1914 - the historical period covered by the book - and it is probably safe to assume they have been around as long as there have been laws.

Nevertheless, this is a fascinating period for Mr Morton to have picked because it saw so many revolutions in other sectors that in turn led to a huge revolution in crime and the way that it was detected.

Urbanisation, capital growth, industrialisation, massive strides in efficient transportation, telephony and other scientific breakthroughs all contributed to an era in which criminality flourished.

Mr Morton acknowledges that these are some of the reasons that he chose this period, along with one other critical factor - during this time, the newspapers and the criminals themselves were beginning to record their activities through reports and biographies.

In keeping with his almost obsessive interest in the subject, Mr Morton leaves no stone unturned.

The book focuses on criminals in New York, London and Paris during this period and the first thing that strikes the reader is just how much travelling these people managed to do.

It is salutary to consider that the development of criminal detection by certain methods - for example, fingerprinting, which came at the end of the period - were catching up with characters such as Chicago May Sharpe.

A reminder that crime offered openings to women no less than it did to men, May went by more than ten aliases during her prolific career.

Born in Dublin, she moved to New York at 17 and teamed up with the constabulary - the book is a catalogue of lamentable police as well as civilian corruption - where she began dealing in revolvers, larceny 'as well as the more mundane prostitution and disorderly conduct'.

May Sharpe is emblematic of the colourful characters who people this book, which is as interesting for these sketches as it is eye-opening as a quasi-history of modern crime.