Confessions of a Thug is an English novel written by Philip Meadows Taylor in 1839 based on the Thuggee cult in India.

[1][2] It was a best-seller in 19th-century Britain, becoming the British Empire's most sensational ethnographic fiction in the first half of the 19th century; its avid readers included Queen Victoria.

[7] The historical Ameer Alee, who provided the fictional character's name, was a low-ranking thug mentioned only twice by Sleeman in his definitive work.

One scene in the novel, in which a thug band led by Ameer Ali suffers a misfortune, is lifted almost word-for-word from Sleeman's book.

More recently editions have appeared from publisher Anthony Blond in the "Doughty Library" series (1967) and the Folio Society (1974), with illustrations by Clarke Hutton.