The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective

by Kate Summerscale

book data

845 ratings, 3.40 average rating, 305 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		12%
4		35%
3		34%
2		14%
1		3%

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published

April 15th 2008 by Walker & Company

binding

Hardcover, 360 pages

setting

The United Kingdom

literary awards

Galaxy Book of the Year (2009)

isbn

0802715354 (isbn13: 9780802715357)

description

In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led ...more

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10/17/08

Carrie rated it:

So disappointing! I was hoping for another "Devil in the White City" but, what I got was "Devil in the over researched, meandering, dull city." Poor Mr. Whicher. From the beginning we are promised a story about this interesting man and the case that brought him down. This was a man who influenced all the famous literary detectives from Sherlock Holmes to Philip Marlowe. But, we never got to know him. He never had a voice. And frankly, the guy on the page would have a hard ti...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

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05/03/08

Heidi rated it:

Read in May, 2008

I'm so disappointed in this book. I happened upon it at the library and thought it looked fantastic. Who doesn't love a Victorian murder mystery?

YET, it was much less riveting than my beloved Death at the Priory. It was impossible not to compare the two Victorian murders and Death at the Priory wins hands down. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher was dry as dust and spent far too much time comparing the historical person, Mr. Whicher, with the development of the burgeoning genre of d...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

3 comments

06/17/09

Daniel rated it:

bookshelves: first-edition

Read in June, 2009

It's a bit hard to understand all the acclaim "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" has received. A recounting of the murder of a three-year-old English boy in 1860 as well as an exploration of the killing's impact on detective work both real and fictional, the book certainly isn't terrible but does suffer from being something of a data dump for the author.

It seems Kate Summerscale felt a need to give us every niggling detail she was able to dig up about the murder, its coverage ...more It's a bit hard to understand all the acclaim "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" has received. A recounting of the murder of a three-year-old English boy in 1860 as well as an exploration of the killing's impact on detective work both real and fictional, the book certainly isn't terrible but does suffer from being something of a data dump for the author.

It seems Kate Summerscale felt a need to give us every niggling detail she was able to dig up about the murder, its coverage by the press at the time, and the family history of each of the case's principles. She also not only ties in every famous piece of literature loosely connected to the case -- the Sherlock Holmes stories, Wilkie Collins's "The Moonstone," Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw," and Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" among them -- but also gives readers the etymology of myriad detective terms, from "clue" and "red herring" to "sleuth" and "hunch."

None of this is bad in and of itself. Summerscale clearly intends to use the investigation of Saville Kent's murder as a starting point to discuss the rise of the modern detective and the development of the mystery novel. The problem is that her analysis of the subject is relatively shallow. There's almost nothing here that someone with a rudimentary knowledge of the history of detective fiction and police work would be surprised by. One comes away with the feeling that Summerscale really wanted to write about only the Kent case itself, found herself with too little material, and ended up padding the story with anything tenuously connected to the crime.

Another problem with the book is the title character, Jonathan Whicher himself. So little is known about the detective beyond his involvement in the Kent investigation -- it's not clear whether or not he had a son, for instance, and Summerscale is left guessing what earlier cases he might have worked on -- that it seems a miscalculation to put the weight of the book on his shoulders. The crime, too, is not quite enough to carry the book. Sure, the murder of a three-year-old would always be shocking, and was probably even more so in its day. But the victim, being a three-year-old, is by definition a less-than-fascinating character. Don't the best murder mysteries -- and Summerscale herself says at the outset that she's hoping to recreate a murder mystery with this book -- have the most intriguing victims?

All criticisms aside, and I realize I've heaped a lot on "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher," the book is obviously thoroughly researched -- arguably too well-researched -- and Summerscale's prose is clear, straightforward and free of unnecessary ornamentation. The book doesn't invite loathing, certainly, but is quite a slog to get through. And the reader isn't left feeling it was much worth the effort.(less)

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

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01/20/09

Becki rated it:

Read in January, 2009

This book really went beyond what I was expecting from it. Aside from re-telling the mystery of a 3 year old's murder, the author also delved into the life and thoughts of one of the first and greatest dectectives, Mr. Whicher. Since I had never heard of this detective or this murder before, it was shocking to realize how many famous books were so greatly influenced by the story. For instance, Dickens was highly interested in this case, and Lady Audley's Secret was quite heavily based upon the m...more

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08/13/08

Elfdream Winsatt rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Elfdream by: The free flyer at Books-A-Million
recommends it for: anyone who loves detective novels and true crime

The crime shocked all of England. Three year old Saville Kent, son of the second family of a well to do British Government Official was found murdered, his small body stuffed in an outdoor privy. This was the infamous Road Hill murder and the man who lead the investigation was Mr. Jonathan Whicher. The story filled the tabloids of the time and was discussed everywhere from pulpits to the halls of Power. The unhappy events inspired not only modern forensic investigative methods but also open up ...more

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05/14/08

Karen rated it:

Read in May, 2008

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale is an account of a real Victorian murder mystery investigated by Jack Whicher, one of the first nine Scotland Yard detectives. In an upper middle class country home, a terrible murder occurred. Three-year-old Saville Kent was discovered dead in a privvy, his throat slashed. A drawing room window had been found open, but it quickly became apparent that no maurading stranger had broken in and committed the dire deed---only one of the family could ...more

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12/27/08

Fiona rated it:

bookshelves: books-i-loved

Read in December, 2008

If you like 19th century British novels...
If you like detective novels...
If you are interested in the development of the novel...
If you have any interest in the development of the science of forensics...
If you like true crime...
If you enjoy good factual writing...
If you like a good story...

... then this book has it all. It's like the author asked me to write a list of all the things I like to read most, shook them up in a shaker and came out with t...more

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08/13/08

Deena rated it:

bookshelves: nonfiction

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Barb and Christy and Gil

I have mixed thoughts about this book and wish I could give 3.5 stars. First of all, it was a thoughtful birthday gift from my husband who knows I love all things criminal and British. I was intrigued by the crime--that lurking demon under Victorian trappings that includes infanticide and child murder more often than even a historian can believe. And the story of the investigation is quite intriguing. Yet, I am not sure if the author nails the tone and sequence she sought. The book rambles in so...more

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08/09/08

Margaret rated it:

Read in August, 2008

To me this book reads like somebody’s master’s thesis that was expanded for publication – the style is very dry, there’s a compulsive need to share every single random detail of research, and a particular obsession with how much everyone paid for everything – but it’s an interestingly idiosyncratic prism through which to look at the various hang-ups of Victorian society, in particular the glorification of Home and Family, and their terror of the increasing social mobility among the ...more To me this book reads like somebody’s master’s thesis that was expanded for publication – the style is very dry, there’s a compulsive need to share every single random detail of research, and a particular obsession with how much everyone paid for everything – but it’s an interestingly idiosyncratic prism through which to look at the various hang-ups of Victorian society, in particular the glorification of Home and Family, and their terror of the increasing social mobility among the classes. It focuses on the high-profile 1860 murder of a child at Road Hill House in Wiltshire, and more specifically on the investigation that followed, the first important one conducted by Scotland Yard’s newly formed eight-man squad of detective-investigators. Jack Whicher, the lead investigator on the case, found himself dealing not only with the challenge of the crime itself, and the pressure of heightened public scrutiny resulting from the relatively recent power of the newspapers and the telegraph, but also with the family’s resistance to the role he was there to play – especially as it began to seem that the crime had been committed by someone inside the house and not by a stranger. The DIs were generally from working class backgrounds, and there was a very strong feeling that not only were they violating the much-vaunted sanctity of the Englishman’s Home with their blunt questions and dirty fingers, but that there was a fundamental impropriety in their determination to dig into and pass judgment on the private business of their social betters. Along the way we also find out the origins of a lot of detective vocabulary we take for granted (“clue,” for instance, and “sleuth”), and as an English Lit major I was intrigued by the influence the crime and its aftermath had on 19th century Brit Lit; this is where we have the genesis of the Country House Murder novel, and of the detective as a compelling literary figure. Elements of the Road Hill case found their way into Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone and Dickens’ unfinished The Mystery of Edwin Drood, while Jack Whicher himself provided inspiration for Collins’ eccentric, rose-loving Inspector Cuff and Dickens’ somewhat less savory Mr Bucket in Bleak House. I also think it’s interesting that the apotheosis of English literary detectives, Sherlock Holmes, who made his first appearance several years after Road Hill, was neither working class nor a sanctioned professional, but a gentlemanly amateur with impeccable manners and social credentials – a detective Victorian society could clasp to its class-conscious breast with impunity. (less)

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12/10/08

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0747582157)

bookshelves: historical-non-fiction

I've always been a big fan of "whodunits" and of course you know of my love of historical novels, so I was pretty excited when I saw this book come out and immediately had to snatch it up. Summerscale writes a great novel of a murder mystery set it gothic Victorian London, where the family are the only suspects. The case proves to be very captivating with various theories laid out for the reader to examine. The author is very good at making it not feel like you're reading a non-fiction...more

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6 comments

09/28/08

La Petite rated it:

bookshelves: meh--whatever-

Read in February, 2009

Like most people, I bought this book because I was intrigued by the true story of murder in a good Victorian family, and the detective mystery that followed.

I didn't pay for 200 pages of what read like some friggin mediocre senior honors thesis. I don't care about how the murder turned up in Wiklie Collins, I don't care what Dickens thought about the crime, I don't care which novels it inspired. This book was just saturated with end-notes, footnotes, and quotes ... not that they wer...more

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03/04/09

Arthur rated it:

Read in March, 2009

A true-crime murder mystery wrapped in its historical context. Saville Kent, a three-year old English child is missing; then found in an outhouse: suffocated, stabbed, with his throat slit. The bungling local police can't figure it out and Jack Whicher, one of the first London detectives is brought into the case.

Whicher figures it out, but his conclusion isn't supported by much evidence and the accused is let off. Whicher is soon hounded out of the police force, but five years later ...more

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02/09/09

Gravity rated it:

Read in January, 2009

Nowadays when every other new television show is some detective/crime drama, we take the genre for granted. "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher," is both a mystery/crime novel and an academic history book. It relates the story of a Victorian manor house murder (before it was a genre), and the attempt to solve the mystery by one of England's first real Scotland Yard detectives.

Summerscale does a terrific job of juggling different genres; manages to maintain the suspense an...more

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02/03/09

N.A. rated it:

bookshelves: library-book, non-fiction, true-crime

Read in February, 2009

The Disappointing Mr. Whicher...or is it the Wandering Ms. Summerscale? No, I've got it! The Bloated Book of Everything Victorian!

I was looking forward to reading, what I thought was, a true crime book with a bit of a look into Mr. Whicher's professional life too. What I got instead was four, possibly more, books in a 304 page book. These four parts consist of the murder of Saville Kent, Mr. Jonathan Whicher himself, an analysis of detective fiction (especially Poe, Dickens, and Coll...more The Disappointing Mr. Whicher...or is it the Wandering Ms. Summerscale? No, I've got it! The Bloated Book of Everything Victorian!

I was looking forward to reading, what I thought was, a true crime book with a bit of a look into Mr. Whicher's professional life too. What I got instead was four, possibly more, books in a 304 page book. These four parts consist of the murder of Saville Kent, Mr. Jonathan Whicher himself, an analysis of detective fiction (especially Poe, Dickens, and Collins), the origin of words and phrases in the detection field, many murder/crime stories of the day, other oddly inserted facts and history, etc., etc.

Now, Ms. Summerscale is a fine writer (and researcher for that matter), but it seems as if she wrote for herself instead of us, the readers. While her odd bits and pieces of history are interesting (usually), they are not essential to the plot (or what I thought was the main story), and I found myself glazing quite a bit. Whenever she rhapsodized poetic about Poe, Dickens or any of the other writers of the early detection mystery, it had the overall feel of a research paper and usually didn't have much to do with the murder in the least. The author wandered off way too many times to her own fancy and whenever she went back to the supposed case, it felt as if she had forgotten that she was supposed to be writing about the murder. This left the plotting of the book oddly pieced together and me discombobulated. Now I won't blame the editor, because for all we know, he/she/they pleaded with her to edit down and she wouldn't budge (some authors are like that, so don't always blame the editor!), but really! All this extraneous information was just filler and added nothing to the book. I cannot believe this actually won anything. Another quibble was that she also had a bit of a problem with her 'sensationalistic' chapter endings; they just didn't go (or flow) with the whole book.

My biggest problem with the whole book is there isn't much on the murder, which you would think there would be by the cover, synopsis, praise, and marketing. Only a little speculation is spared on a few other suspects; no why might they have done it, how the family may have felt - I wish there had been more focused on the murder and less on everything else. That's why I picked up the book, I wanted to know about the crime and consequences, not on the way of Victorian life or how it influenced writers, there are other books for that (which are listed in the notes and select bibliography in the back I might add). Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the subject content, but the overall construction of the book with all the un-necessary passages left me dissatisfied and grumpy.

Here are some other good reviews (who also feel the same as I do LoL):
http://www.amazon.com/review/R8XMV7SINXI...
http://www.amazon.com/review/RX6JW98OZ5P...
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SDJSGICZP...
http://www.amazon.com/review/RC12XYW9903... - minus the comment about editors(less)

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12/16/08

Johnny Waco rated it:

bookshelves: mystery, non-fiction

Read in December, 2008

I learned about this book when I was reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, and discovered that significant details and plotlines were inspired by the gruesome 1860 murder of three-year old Saville Kent. In writing The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Summerscale obviously did voluminous research in piecing together not only the facts of the Kent murder, but also public perception at the time and the eventual impact on popular culture--especially the emerging mystery genre.

The crime itself...more I learned about this book when I was reading Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone, and discovered that significant details and plotlines were inspired by the gruesome 1860 murder of three-year old Saville Kent. In writing The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, Summerscale obviously did voluminous research in piecing together not only the facts of the Kent murder, but also public perception at the time and the eventual impact on popular culture--especially the emerging mystery genre.

The crime itself was revolting: Saville was discovered missing early one morning and found later, throat slashed and dropped down the pit of an outdoor privy. Since police could find no evidence of tampering from the outside, suspicion turned to those living in the Kent household--but who? Besides the Kent family itself, six children besides Saville, ages ranging from newborn to late twenties, several servants also lived in Road Hill House. When local police couldn't make headway, Scotland Yard sent their star investigator, Jack Whicher, to take over. Although rumors swirled around almost every resident of the house, Whicher narrowed in on Constance, the sixteen-year old stepsister of Saville. She clearly held a grudge against her stepmother, her former nursemaid who had replaced Constance's now-dead mother, and had a history of disturbed behavior and well-thought out plots. Her inability to adequately explained what happened to one of her three nightdresses (splattered with blood?) further implicated her. Unfortunately, when Whicher arrested her, public outcry became defeaning as the issue went from murder to class--how dare a working-class detective add to the grief of a respectable family! How dare he not implicate one of the servants, clearly more capable of such a horrific act! Constance was released, Whicher was eventually hounded into retirement, and the crime remained unsolved...until five years later, when Constance, now living in an Episcopal women's home, confessed! Summerscale tells the tale compellingly, although I understand why some readers might become annoyed by all of the context she provides, and she proposes, convincingly, in my opinion, that Constance may have taken the fall solitarily, but she probably had help from her brother William, her closest sibling and co-conspirator in some of her previous schemes. As much an enlightening social history as a good crime book.(less)

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11/23/08

Ann rated it:

Do you ever feel cheated when you don’t love a book, not because that book is in any way deficient, but because you are some sort of Platonic ideal of reader? Why does my fascination with mid-to-late 1800s England – I must have read Bleak House when my skull was still soft and unfused, because the smog and the urchins and the overcrowded cemeteries just call to me – entitle me to feel like I deserve to be more impressed than this? I mean, how many people have sufficient respect for tho...more

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03/08/09

Yune rated it:

A real-life Victorian closed-house murder mystery.

You have to go in with certain expectations; otherwise, the beginning, which lists the movements of people in the house on that fateful mornings, reads like an itinerary. You have to be deeply suspicious, and build your own tension with each minute longer the boy has been missing.

I'm impressed by how this history was recreated into a seamless narrative, and I spent a lot of time worrying that all the detail would end with...more

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01/19/09

Julie rated it:

Read in January, 2009

I have quite mixed feelings about this book. It was a book from my book reading group - so not the sort of thing I would normally choose.

I thought the book couldn't quite make up its mind what its purpose was. It's a piece of research about a real-life Victorian murder in a country house in a village called Road. At the time, the murder was widely reported in the popular press, and - according to the book - society was scandalised by the horror of what happened. I guess it was a b...more

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06/18/09

Sarah rated it:

Read in June, 2009

After glancing through some of the other reviews for this book, I think it might suffer from Misleading Marketing disease.

This book is NOT a detective novel, with a satisfyingly wrapped up ending. If you are reading it for that, you will find the digressions into detail about the historical moment distracting, not interesting. Similarly, if you are reading it as a detective novel, you will find the excerpts from the novels inspired by the case or the detective annoying.

...more

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03/28/09

Connie rated it:

(review of isbn 0747596484)

Read in March, 2009

As someone who enjoys detective fiction I enjoyed this book. It's look at the origins of the detective in society and in fiction work well together, and the book itself seems to thread the story at it's core (the murder at road hill house) as a key inspiration behind many plot lines in well known novels since. With that in mind the book bought an added appreciation to other novels I had read (Lady Audley's Secret).

I really enjoyed the balance of fact with the touches of what was know...more

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