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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
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Manufacturer: Walker & Company
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523094231
EAN: 9780802715357
ISBN: 0802715354
Label: Walker & Company
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2008-04-15
Publisher: Walker & Company
Release Date: 2008-04-15
Studio: Walker & Company
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Editorial Reviews:
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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 the land. At the time, the detective was a relatively new invention; there were only eight detectives in all of England and rarely were they called out of London, but this crime was so shocking, as Kate Summerscale relates in her scintillating new book, that Scotland Yard sent its best man to investigate, Inspector Jonathan Whicher. Whicher quickly believed the unbelievable—that someone within the family was responsible for the murder of young Saville Kent. Without sufficient evidence or a confession, though, his case was circumstantial and he returned to London a broken man. Though he would be vindicated five years later, the real legacy of Jonathan Whicher lives on in fiction: the tough, quirky, knowing, and all-seeing detective that we know and love today…from the cryptic Sgt. Cuff in Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone to Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a provocative work of nonfiction that reads like a Victorian thriller, and in it Kate Summerscale has fashioned a brilliant, multilayered narrative that is as cleverly constructed as it is beautifully written.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Gothic murder mystery at it's best!
Comment: I've always been a big fan of in "whodunits" and 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 just is crammed with facts, even though she has obviously done her research and has her share of documents pertaining to the case. I could've maybe done without the deeper information she gives into Whicher's life and the history of detective work, although some of it was insightful. Recommended to anyone who likes a good, real-life murder mystery!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intriguing and informative
Comment: A good combination of whodunit and history of the period (1860).
The author includes maps, room plans and photographs which ensure that the reader can't forget the reality of the murder. Yet at the beginning of the book there is a family tree and a 'List of Characters' which almost suggests it's a work of detective fiction, popular at the time.
I found it really fascinating, from the gruesome murder of a young child to the personal and professional lives of Scotland Yard detectives. Summerscale has researched her material and the facts of the case very well and the result is a book that satisfies lovers of both facts and fiction.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazingly relevant today
Comment: Reading this book, one can't help but notice the similarities between this case and the high profile over hyped crimes constantly being "sold" on cable tv. What's particularly interesting is the parallels between the stupid commentary of the papers of the day and the stupid commentary of the talking head on cable news. I was also impressed at the level of skill of Mr Whicher, a man who'd clearly have a detective show named after him were he alive today.
It's also beyond that, an interesting look at the actions of someone who's committed a horrible crime but now feels remorse and guilt for their actions and is trying on some level to atone even though it's ultimately impossible to do so. It's a shame that we couldn't confirm whether the killer really did have an accomplice.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Analysis
Comment:
This would be an interesting book if it were only the history of one particular crime. But Summerscale gives us much more in this fascinating analysis of a murder that shocked England in 1860.
The brutal murder of a child made everyone in the household a suspect, a situation similar to the more recent Jon Benet Ramsay case. The murder had national ramifications--exposing the private life of a family to public scrutiny for the first time in British history and arousing fear and curiosity across the nation. Scotland Yard sent its best man to investigate and, from all accounts, Jonathan Whicher exerted his best efforts to find the killer.
Unfortunately, delays in his assignment and jealousy on the part of local police stymied his investigation. Though he brought charges against Constance Kent, the child's half-sister, the person he considered the most likely suspect, his evidence was only circumstantial and she was released. Public sympathy turned against the detective and he returned to London in disgrace.
Even the confession of his suspect five years later and her sentence to prison failed to vindicate Whicher. His career had been permanently tarnished and he had retired in 1864, his health damaged as if his "...thoughts had run too obsessively on the conundrum of the Road Hill murder."
Despite the confession, doubts continue about certain aspects of the case.
The case gave rise to a "detective-fever" in Britain and paved the way for our fascination with mystery novels. In addition to her revelations about the case and the times, Summerscale also provides interesting tidbits such as the origin of the words "clue" and "sleuth."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ultimately dissapointing
Comment: This book start out great and shows tremendous promise. But it ultimately dissipates all that energy and falls flat. Summerscale uses the Road House Murder as a lens by which to view much of Victorian society, riffing into fascinating historical tangents. The tension of the murder itself keeps the book a page turner throughout the first half, but is paced oddly so that the last half of the book is concerned with events after the investigation. Odd pacing, and because the book never reaches a strong conclusion it feels like it just trails off ...
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