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

Kate Summerscale

3.45 · Rating details · 17,366 ratings · 1,936 reviews

The dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction.

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 to a national obsession with detection, ironically destroying, in the process, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in

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Hardcover, 360 pages

Published April 15th 2008 by Walker & Company (first published 2008)

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Oct 17, 2008 Carrie rated it it was ok

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 time influencing ...more

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Apr 07, 2018 Peter rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, non-fiction, mystery

Suspicion
This is a version of the true murder investigation, which occurred in Road Hill House on 30th June 1860 in Rode in Wiltshire. The death of 3-year-old Francis Savill Kent became a national outrage and a widespread public condemnation towards the middle-class lifestyles and values. What went on behind closed doors? What can money and social class cover-up?

What was fact, was that behind locked doors the murder occurred and the murderer was one of the household staff or family. Mr Jonathan ...more

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Jun 17, 2009 Daniel rated it it was ok

Shelves: first-edition, 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 by the press at the 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. ...more

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Dec 27, 2008 Fiona Brichaut rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-loved, favorites

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 the perfect book.

I drove my husband nuts while I ...more

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May 09, 2010 Madeline rated it really liked it

Shelves: assigned-reading, history-nonfiction

There don't seem to be many glowing reviews of this book on Goodreads, which I can totally understand. Yes, Summerscale gives us way, way too much extra background information on everything, her attempt to connect Detective Whicher to every single literary detective that has ever been is weak at the best of times, and the book's content doesn't pack quite the sensational punch its title promises.

Those are the book's flaws. I acknowledge their existence, and will now proceed to completely ...more

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Nov 15, 2018 Katie Lumsden rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars

I absolutely loved this - a fascinating, gripping read, so full of detail and intrigue, and so well written. A real new favourite non-fiction - I would highly recommend.

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Aug 09, 2008 Margaret rated it it was ok

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 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. ...more

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Jun 22, 2010 Lance Greenfield rated it liked it · review of another edition

Superb historical documentary of police detectives

This is an amazing book. Rarely have I read a book which has been so meticulously researched. There is an unbelievable amount of detail about the origins of official police detective work, the personalities involved, the journalism of the mid-nineteenth century, the Kent family of Road, the famous and not-so-famous people of that time, and the continuing history of the characters involved into the twentieth century.

So, if I think that this book's ...more

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Jan 15, 2018 Lori rated it really liked it

Four-year-old Saville Kent is murdered in his own home. Although originally placed in the hands of local police, the matter is turned over to Jack Whicher who almost immediately suspects daughter Constance of the crime. However, charges do not stick. Whicher is discredited. The crime is confessed a few years later. The crime is interesting because of its influence on the new detective genre of fiction. Both Wilkie Collins in The Moonstone and Charles Dickens in his unfinished work The Mystery of ...more

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Aug 30, 2008 The Book Whisperer (aka Boof) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: History fans, fans of Victorian literature, mysteries etc

Shelves: non-fiction, historical, british-authors, read-in-2009, crime-mystery-thrillers, victorians, my-most-amazing-books, uk, biography-memoirs

What a fascinating book this was. I expected to read about the true story of one of the most shocking crimes in 19th century England but I hadn't bargained for also getting a fantastically written and hugely interesting social commentary of Victorian times and attitudes and behaviours with regards to the emergence of Police Detectives in this country.

Mr Whicher, the Detective called in to this particular case, was one of the first ever Scotland Yard Detectives which came with its own share of What a fascinating book this was. I expected to read about the true story of one of the most shocking crimes in 19th century England but I hadn't bargained for also getting a fantastically written and hugely interesting social commentary of Victorian times and attitudes and behaviours with regards to the emergence of Police Detectives in this country.

Mr Whicher, the Detective called in to this particular case, was one of the first ever Scotland Yard Detectives which came with its own share of suspicion and mistrust. The case in question was of the murder of a 3 year old boy, one of several children of a well-to-do family in a country house in Wiltshire. In June 1860, the young boy was found to be missing from his cot in the morning and later that day his body was discovered (with his throat slit and a stab wound to his chest) down the servants toilet outside in the grounds. It soon became apparant that the purportrator was one of the people inside the house on that night (which consisted of the boys family, the nursemaid and housemaid). Whicher was called in to find out which one of the family murdered the three year old while the whole of England became obsessed with the drama, writing into the newspapers in their thousands offering their opinion on who committed the crime.

While I found the unravelling of this story fascinating in itself, I was also delighted to see so many references to some great Victorian authors inclduing Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. 1860 was also the year that the first victorian "sensational" novel was published and this appeared to feed the frenzy of the public. This particular case has also been reported to have been the basis for subsequent rather famous novels such as Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood , Collins' The Moonstone and Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret all of which contain themes from this particular story. Dickens (who was also an aquaintance of Mr Whicher) even wrote letters to Collins offering his theory on what took place that night.

This book is completely non-ficiton to point that only recorded conversations and facts are included (which seems to be the reason there are alot of negative reviews about it - perhaps it seemed too dry for some). And while this is more of a why-dunnit than a who-dunnit , there are still a few surprises along the way that caught me off-guard.

I thoroughtly enjoyed this book; infact I could barely put it down. Summerscale stuck to the facts without trying to sensationalise the story any more than it already was by putting words in peoples mouths and the result was a hugely enjoyable novel about a shocking crime and its repercussions in Victorian society. Highly recommended. ...more

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Jan 20, 2009 Becki rated it really liked it

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 ...more

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Aug 13, 2008 Sharon rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: anyone who loves detective novels and true crime

Recommended to Sharon by: The free flyer at Books-A-Million

Shelves: history, true-life-stories

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 a ...more

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May 14, 2008 Karen rated it it was amazing

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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Sep 28, 2015 Roberta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: regno-unito

I expected a detective story set in the Victorian era and instead I got this great and extremely accurate historical novel that percolate into current times.
I enjoyed reading about Mr. Whicher and I suffered with him when the public opinion dragged him down. But what I enjoyed the most is being taken through the genesis of something we take for granted nowadays: the police force.
The tale is surprisingly modern: the media jumped on the story from the start, complaint about the detective work ...more

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Sep 21, 2009 Kasia rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, audio, true-crime

So it wasn't totally bad, but it never lived up to its hype either. The whoddunit part of the story was quite suspenceful, and even before that, the setup where you're introduced to this odd Victorian family, and you know something bad is about to happen (I was picturing a Rosemary's baby scenario leading up to a macare... ) - that part was good.

So here's the deal: the research was thorough, the writing - scientific, unimaginative and drowned in endless details. Not to mention the characters, ...more

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Sep 26, 2019 Alice-Elizabeth (marriedtobooks) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2019, alice-reads-adult-fiction, thrillers

3.5 stars!

Considering I'm quite local to the area near where this happened in 1860, I had no idea about this shocking real-life murder until I found a copy of this book in a charity shop. A young three-year-old boy is found slain outside the family home and fingers get pointed around various occupants including the victim's older siblings and the servants. Although I liked how accurate the geography was, the pacing was very slow-going. Most of the characters I wasn't keen on, due to their ...more

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Sep 19, 2018 Theresa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is one of those books that I can totally see not being for everyone. It's extremely long-winded and provides a ton of information on detective fiction as a literary genre, leading to long stretches of the book deviating from the topic that is promised by the blurb. This is why I'm docking one star; otherwise this book could have been a new favourite.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is at its essence a non-fiction true crime novel about the 1860 Road Hill murder case. One night, the This is one of those books that I can totally see not being for everyone. It's extremely long-winded and provides a ton of information on detective fiction as a literary genre, leading to long stretches of the book deviating from the topic that is promised by the blurb. This is why I'm docking one star; otherwise this book could have been a new favourite.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is at its essence a non-fiction true crime novel about the 1860 Road Hill murder case. One night, the 3-year-old son of Samuel Kent, owner of Road Hill House, disappears from the nursery and is subsequently found dead of a stabbing in the closet/toilet outside. The family, consisting of his wife and children of both his current and former marriage, as well as the servants are in uproar and the police quickly begin their investigations. However, they resolutely exclude the family members from their investigation, as they don't consider it proper and are afraid to violate the sanctity of the private English home. The police end up being stumped, and so Mr. Whicher, one of the original members of the newly formed detective force is sent to do some digging.

Whicher's involvement in the case and its depiction in the media both were instrumental in forming the public opinion on the existence of detectives. Whicher was often the target of ridicule and ill will, and had to jump many hurdles in the course of his investigation.

Kate Summerscale not only examines the case, the Kent family and Whicher as a person, but also the genre of detective fiction as a whole. She draws many parallels between Whicher's person and the personalities of the detectives depicted in books written in the late 19th century. While some of them ring true, others appear to me more padding than anything else; similarly, a lot of the information she provides ends up being way too in-depth and deviates, in my opinion, too much from the intended topic of the book.

That all being said, I found the book extremely compelling and interesting. My favourite aspects where obviously the unraveling of the case, but also Summerscale's explanations on the development of detective-related vocabulary, with words such as "sleuth", "clue" and "red herring", that are entirely familiar to us today.

To say it again, I firmly believe this book is not for everyone; but if you want to take a deep, thorough dive into this case as well as learn pretty much everything else of even the slightest relevance, it's definitely worth a read! :D ...more

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May 03, 2008 Heidi rated it did not like it

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 detective novels ...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Amy Bruno rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 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 book that ...more

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Sep 28, 2008 La Petite Américaine rated it it was ok

Shelves: meh-whatever, i-want-my-money-back

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 were ...more

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May 24, 2009 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery, non-fiction

Very interesting book. Does a nice job of showing how authors of late 19th century England got fascinated by detectives and how this case influenced their detective fiction which in turn influenced the modern detective fiction. Lots of interesting period details and it shows how little people have changed. If you substituted blogs and Fox News for the tabloid papers and letters people wrote to the police, the hysteria and ignorance surrounding a crime in 1860 can still be seen in modern day ...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: history, mystery

I would have given this four stars, but I had an issue with the way the book was structured. The author seemed to be not clear about what she was writing-a historical mystery, social commentary about Nineteenth Century England, or an exploration of the evolution of the fictional detective. The narration constantly switched between these modes and grated on the nerves at times.

That said, the mystery is excellent (with genuine clues, red herrings and all): and Inspector Whicher is as enthralling ...more

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May 01, 2018 Jeimy rated it it was amazing

This is a riveting work of narrative nonfiction that centers on the murder of an infant, the detective tasked to solve it, and the aftermath of his investigation--which led to his downfall. However, the book is much more than that. It offers a glimpse of the mythical status of detectives both in literature and in real life. You see, the rank of detective was created during the Victorian era and much of the public's fascination with them stemmed from the detective novel, a new genre at the time. ...more

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Mar 27, 2019 Natalie Richards rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-book

A fascinating Victorian true crime story. There are also very interesting articles on google for further reading.

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Oct 14, 2011 Jill Hutchinson rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-police-procedural, biography

This is a strange book.....a mix of true crime, the rise of the detective and detective fiction of the mid-19th century. And it moves from one aspect of that mix to another with abandon.
The horrific murder of a child (called the Road Murder)brings Mr. Whicher, one of the first detectives of Scotland Yard onto the scene. Although he identifies the murderer in a short time, the public refuses to accept his conclusions and he suffers public scorn. Running through the narrative are references to the ...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Amanda rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, classics, death

It was interesting to hear about the evolution of detectives in fiction and reality. I found the book was at times confusing, especially since I was listening to the audiobook. There were a lot of details and people to keep straight, which was a challenge at times. Overall it was interesting to learn about a Victorian murder case. This book spoils the plot twists of several Victorian classics, which I found maddeningly unnecessary. The spoiled books include Jane Eyre, The Woman in White, Bleak ...more

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Feb 23, 2017 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2017, non-fic, social-commentary, murders-and-misdeeds, history, own, family-business, kindle-baby, true-crime

Do you enjoy Victorian literature? Fascinated by true crime? Then you could find a lot to enjoy in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which deals with a murder that rocked Victorian England – the death of the three year old darling of a middle class family, stolen from his crib in a locked house and found dumped in a privy with his throat cut.

Calling upon the Government to send one of its newly created detectives to solve the case (and receiving the titular Mr Whicher, one of their best), at first Do you enjoy Victorian literature? Fascinated by true crime? Then you could find a lot to enjoy in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which deals with a murder that rocked Victorian England – the death of the three year old darling of a middle class family, stolen from his crib in a locked house and found dumped in a privy with his throat cut.

Calling upon the Government to send one of its newly created detectives to solve the case (and receiving the titular Mr Whicher, one of their best), at first the public would be as fascinated by the detectives and the new ‘science’ of investigation as by the case and a wave of new novels starring fictional versions of these men fed the public’s mania. However, as the case progressed the public soon found themselves disgusted by the investigation in which everyone in the family was suspect (instead of just the help, which would have better suited middle class sensibilities) and the secrets of their home life laid bare for all to see in the newspapers. The disgust wasn’t confined to the brutality of the murder, or the idea that someone just like them had committed it, but was propelled by the investigation riding roughshod over the notion that an Englishman’s home was his castle, a bastion of middle class privacy that working class detectives had no right to intrude upon, and would leave Mr Whicher’s reputation in tatters.

It was fascinating to see how what we take for granted in modern murder investigations was born, with hunches and interviews providing much of the ‘evidence’, and how Victorian manners could waylay cases (such as the local police not wishing to even look upon a ladies shift that could provide vital evidence, as such a thing was unseemly). The book laid out the facts of the case well, allowing the reader to follow the ‘clues’ in much the same was as Mr Whicher had, as well as providing fascinating commentary on how public opinion could affect both the outcome of case and his career.

Informative and insightful, this book has also inspired me into a little mania of my own which has led to the addition roughly 10,000 more books to my wishlist. More of Summerscale’s books feature on the list, and pay day can’t come soon enough.

**Also posted at Cannonball Read 9** ...more

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May 30, 2016 DeAnna Knippling rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction

This book was 100% in my wheelhouse; I may not be able to be objective about it.

A well-researched book about a) a sensational crime in 1860 England, and b) how people reacted to the new detective force investigating it. It traces the change from half-thief thieftakers to the more staid, respectable detective force--and why. I kept throwing my hands in the air at the way people protested the detective doing his job (although it made perfect sense, from their closeted, secretive perspective).

...more

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Jul 06, 2008 Rose added it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, 2009

I can't recommend this particularly whole-heartedly. Really, it feels like too many books jammed into one, yet still seems padded out with way too much extraneous detail - I don't really need a list of 9 possible bird species that just might potentially have been outside the carriage of an superintendent dude as he went on a journey. Mr Whicher himself is really not that awesome a guy to write a book about, and attempts to make him the inspiration of every subsequent detective novel seem forced. ...more

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Sep 03, 2017 kris rated it liked it

During the night of June 29, 1860, three year old Saville Kent was taken from his bed in a locked house, brutally murdered, and left in a servant's privy on the property of the Road Hill House. After weeks of founts of information but no leads, a Mr. Whicher was dispatched to investigate. His suspicions fell on Saville's step-sister: Constance Kent. But the class differences between the family and the detective and the lack of incriminating evidence led to Mr. Whicher returning to London ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Inspired by true events; historical fiction? England around the mid 1800's? Little girl murdered, found in outhouse, father is prominent man in the area. [s]	5	56	Apr 18, 2018 10:00PM
History & Mystery: I will keep this as the group currently reading	9	6	Mar 18, 2018 12:15PM
History & Mystery: This is non-fiction?!	2	24	Oct 13, 2015 04:22PM

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About Kate Summerscale

Kate Summerscale

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Kate Summerscale (born in 1965) is an English writer and journalist.
She won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction in 2008 with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House and won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998 (and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography) for the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, 'fastest woman on water'.
As a ...more

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“Perhaps this is the purpose of detective investigations, real and fictional -- to transform sensation, horror and grief into a puzzle, and then to solve the puzzle, to make it go away. 'The detective story,' observed Raymond Chandler in 1949, 'is a tragedy with a happy ending.' A storybook detective starts by confronting us with a murder and ends by absolving us of it. He clears us of guilt. He relieves us of uncertainty. He removes us from the presence of death.” — 13 likes

“Nothing can be more slightly defined than the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity ... Make the definition too narrow, it becomes meaningless; make it too wide, and the whole human race becomes involved in the dragnet. In strictness we are all mad when we give way to passion, to prejudice, to vice, to vanity; but if all the passionate, prejudiced and vain people were to be locked up as lunatics, who is to keep the key to the asylum?"

(Editorial, The Times, 22 July 1853)” — 7 likes

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

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Preview — The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale

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

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About Kate Summerscale

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