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    The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
    The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
    The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
    Audiobook9 hours

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

    Written by Kate Summerscale

    Narrated by Simon Vance

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    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 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 Sergeant 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 author Kate Summerscale has fashioned a brilliant, multilayered narrative that is as cleverly constructed as it is beautifully written.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateOct 15, 2008
    ISBN9781598878530
    Author

    Kate Summerscale

    Kate Summerscale is the author of the number one bestselling The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2008, winner of the Galaxy British Book of the Year Award, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and adapted into a major ITV drama. Her debut, The Queen of Whale Cay, won a Somerset Maugham award and was shortlisted for The Whitbread Biography Award. The Wicked Boy, published in 2016, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Her latest book, The Haunting of Alma Fielding, was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. She lives in north London.

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    Reviews for The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

    4/5

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    • 3/5
      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 as any fictional detective, especially with regard to the one vital deduction which points to the solution of the mystery.

      I wish the author had structured the book differently, first giving us the mystery without any dressings and then analysing its social and literary impact. I feel it would have been more effective.

    • 5/5
      True crime about a famous British case, the murder of 3 year old Saville Kent. Local police arrested the nanny, saying her motivation was that the Saville saw her and his father in a compromising position, but she was released. Whicher was the Scotland Yard detective called in on the case, and he arrested Constance Kent, the victim's teenaged half sister. Because it was 1860, people were horrified that he could suspect a young girl. She was released and Whicher's reputation suffered. The nanny was re-arrested and tried, but acquitted. Five years later Constance Kent, now having gotten religion, confessed to the crime. She emphasized that she bore no ill-will toward her half brother. However, her father had romanced her stepmother as her mother was dying, and subsequently neglected the children of his first marriage for those of his second, and there was known to be much family tension. She was sentenced to death but that was commuted to live in prison. She served 20 years, then emigrated to Australia, changed her name, and became a nurse.It’s an interesting book, not only about the case but about detectives and crime-solving, which was in its infancy. Dickens had written about a detective in Bleak House in the 1850s and the public was fascinated by the subject. The author theorizes that the crime might have been committed by Constance's brother William and that she confessed to shield him. He became a distinguished marine biologist whose experiments with cultured pearls led to the modern-day pearl industry. Weird, huh?
    • 3/5
      Warning: Here be mild spoilers!I had such high hopes for this book because all the reviews said that Summerscale had new information and discovered the true killer in the Victorian Age murder of Saville Kent. Well, that's not true. Not at all.I suspect part of the problem is that as a former true crime aficionado I knew everything Summerscale wrote about in this book. Some of the details from the maids was new, but for the most part there was nothing new in this book for me, down to the lay out of the house to the man who found Saville Kent in the outhouse.Before this book was written, many people felt that Constance potentially took the blame for the murder for an older sibling. Summerscale doesn't even go that far, flogging at the very end of the book, almost as an afterthought, the idea that whether she did it or not, Constance was content to let the blame fall on her as long as it did not fall on her older brother, a man who went on to have a brilliant career.So... It's an absorbing, interesting, well-written book but, if like me, you already knew a lot about Kent before you ever heard of this book, you will likely learn nothing new. It's still a good read in spite of there being little new but it was quite a disappointment when the same old theories were presented as something new.
    • 4/5
      The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House is the story of a true murder mystery, which formed the basis of inspiration for many of the great detective stories of the late 19th century. It has all the elements of the great whodunnit: intrigue, secret relationships and a small cast of characters.In 1860, the Kent family, resident at Road Hill House, consisted of Mr. Kent, his second wife Mrs. Kent (formerly a governess to the family), his chilren from his first marriage and a group of younger children from his second marriage. As may be expected, there were typical lines of separation and favouritism between the two groups of children.One morning the governess awoke to find Saville, one of the younger children, missing from his bed in the nursery. Thinking that he was in bed with his mother, she returned to sleep. It wasn't until the household fully awoke that they realised Saville was no longer in the house. Police were called and neighbours assisted in searching the grounds. Unfortunately, the body of young Saville was found in an outdoor toilet.The local police were faced with a conundrum, the house had been locked securely from the inside, which meant that the murderer was most likely a member of the household. The pressure from the public and media on the Kent household challenged the strong Victorian feelings about the home (everyman's home is his castle), and the assignment of a police detective to this case furthered added to the interest.Summerscale has compiled and researched a wealth of knowledge for this book, but I felt a lack of cohesion throughout. Despite the meticulous detail, and the fascinating insights into the mentality of the era, the story never really pulls together. Instead it remains cut and dried. It offers a fascinating view of the Victorian era, as well as the evolution of the crime novel and the modern police detective. Recommended for fans of the era.
    • 5/5
      This is a most ambitious book which documents the murder case of a three year old boy, is a biography of one of the very first police detectives and shows how this murder and this particular detective spurred on the very first detective fiction such as that written by Wilkie Collins. The book succeeds on all points and is a riveting and incredibly interesting read.The murder is quite memorable in this time period because it is the first time that public attention focused on a murder committed in a middle class home where one of the inhabitants of the home must be the murderer. At this time in England a man's home was literally his castle and the recent ruling that allowed police to enter one's home without the owner's specific permission was absolutely shocking to the middle and upper classes.The author takes the reader back to this time period (1860s onward) and expertly discusses the mindset and proprieties of the day which make the understanding of why this case was so scandalous for its time. The formation and early days of policing, plus the introduction of "detectives" into the force is fascinating, as is the life of the firstly lauded then scorned Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher. The references to the detective novels which were just starting to replace the sensationalist fiction of the previous generations is fascinating to the reader of Victorian literature. Wilkie Collins' "The Woman in White", Dickens' "Bleak House" and several books by a popular writer of the times known only as 'Waters' are quoted and referred to often, though many other books are also mentioned.The book profusely uses direct quotes from contemporary sources such as newspapers, broadsheets, books, trial documents, journals, letters, etc. There are also a few helpful footnotes along the way and an extensive 'Notes' section at the back, along with illustrations, photographs, and endpapers that show the schematics of the house the reader is immersed in the time period.Well written in an engaging voice and obviously well-researched this is a gem of a book for those interested in Victorian life. Though the book focuses on a true crime and the police procedures of the time there is a wealth of information on all aspects of life in the time period. I also went into this book not knowing anything about the murder case itself and found the revealing of the investigation and eventually the killer to be as exciting as any mystery novel. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
       This is really interesting, and really very difficult to classify. It's not a novel, as the events described are real, however, it is written in the style of detective fiction, with facts being unearthed as you go along. It's also social history, commenting on the state of policing, justice, criminality and prisons of the time. But then again, it runs as an early history of detective fiction itself, showing how many novels of the time set the trend for detectives to come, and how much of that style is based on this case. All in all, it's a fascinating book. The murder is one that shocked the Victorian world by undermining the ideal of family as the murder was committed by one of the family. but who? Mr Whicher had his suspiscions, but they were unproven at the time, and remained suspicions until one of the family confessed. However, even that confession leaves you slightly unsure that this is the entire truth.
    • 3/5
      In many respects this book reads like detective fiction, although the actual crime and story aren't as interesting as many fictional ones. It traces a particular 19th century murder and its aftermath during the very early days of police detectives in Britain, but goes beyond that to look at detection in those days in more detail, with reference to contemporary fiction.It is interesting, both for its detective detail and the more general stuff about life, the universe and everything in 19th century Britain. However one often feels that the author has gone over the top in some of the flowery hype about detectives and detection. A bit pretentious, but still worth reading.
    • 4/5
      This is the true story of a Victorian crime - the murder of a small boy inside his (well-off) family home. The crime appears to have been something of a Victorian cause celebre, arousing all sorts of middle-class fears about the sanctity of the home and the sort of things which might be going on inside it, including whether the middle-class family was really as pure and upright as it was painted, and how far you could trust the servants which you brought into the heart of your home. It was also investigated by the celebrity detective of his time - a man who appears to have been involved in many of the most famous cases, and whose every act while investigating the Road Hill House murder was watched and commented on by press and Victorian public alike. According to the book, he was the model for The Moonstone's Detective Cuff, and through him to many of the detectives in the stories written today. The case also spawned a genre of its own - the "sensation" novel ("tales of domestic misery, deception, madness"), from Lady Audley's Secret on.There are many fascinating things about the case, and the book is gripping from the start, although it gets a bit bogged down in detail at times. It reads like a combination of the detailed story of the detection process and a social history of what the case meant. I would have preferred more emphasis on the latter - the story of the detection doesn't move fast enough to make it the backbone of the book. Therefore I would say I was slightly disappointed by this book, which won the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction last year and which has been widely praised. It's certainly an interesting story, but I think a different author might have been able to make more of it.
    • 4/5
      I thought this was a very interesting book altogether. Not only from the actual case discussed but also because of the interesting details about how the police detective system developed. It was fascinating to learn that Dickens took an interest in the case and the references to Edgar Allen Poe, Wilkie Collins etc., I found very interesting. I really enjoyed this book.
    • 2/5
      Couldn't finish this. I borrowed the audiobook version from the library and while Kate Summerscale's writing is smooth and crisp, presented in an excellent narration by Simon Vance, I couldn't get over the distressing fact that the crime was true. Someone really did it; this isn't a nicely entertaining, fabricated mystery story of the kind I usually enjoy. I am also a bit sensitive to violence against children at the moment, as I'm eight months pregnant and getting ready to welcome my own son into this crazy world. So, despite the fascinating period marking the beginning of real-world police detection, I just couldn't finish. I can tell it's well written, though (if a little slow moving), and other readers lacking my hangups may find it quite good.
    • 3/5
      A intricately dissected account of a Victorian murder featuring the infancy of detective based investigations. Written in a style sympathetic to the period the book just about supports its length, although if you are looking for startling plot twists and a straightforward satisfying resolution you will be disappointed. Fabulous detail and enough suspense is provided however for quite an entertaining read that perhaps throws up as many supplemental questions as answers.
    • 5/5
      Three-year-old murder victim Saville Kent had a tragically short life, but the investigation of his death had a lasting influence on popular culture and literature. Jonathan “Jack” Whicher, the Scotland Yard investigator called in from London, epitomized the new profession of detective inspector. He was an inspiration for a number of literary characters, including Dickens' Inspector Bucket (Bleak House, Collins' Sergeant Cuff (The Moonstone), and Braddon's Robert Audley (Lady Audley's Secret). Collins wove details from the “Road House murder” into the plot of The Moonstone. Readers with an interest in the history of crime and detective fiction will gain new insight into the early development of this genre.
    • 3/5
      There are a good few reviews of this book already, so I won't labour the obvious points. Yes, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is a meticulously researched investigation into a notorious murder case, yes, it gives us an insight into the birth of detective fiction (in the English-speaking world at least), but there are a couple of facts which will stay with me after reading the book longer than either of the above. Firstly, we may be separated from the murder of young Saville Kent by some 150 years but I can't help but draw parallels between the reaction from the media of the time and the furore which would accompany a similar crime today. The more things change, it seems, the more they stay the same. Tabloid hysteria is not a modern-day phenomenon. Secondly (and I'm afraid there are spoilers ahead here) I'm nonplussed by how 16-year-old murderess Constance Kent fared in the years after the crime she confessed to. Spared from the death sentence for murdering her young half brother - which would surely have been customary at the time for someone of a lower class - Constance served a lengthy jail term but went on to lead a productive life on her release, including working with with leprosy sufferers. An example of someone turning over a new leaf? Or - as the book hints at- an example of someone protecting a loved one? We''ll probably never know but the question is intriguing none-the-less.
    • 4/5
      It's so rare that a book I've been wanting to read for months lives up to my expectations -- but this one did. It's the story of the murder of a young boy in England in 1860, a case that obsessed the country and helped determine the pattern of English detective writing. Summerscale deftly handles a huge range of information -- about the family, about social conditions and mores of the time, about scientific knowledge, about police methods and structures -- without ever letting the narrative get jumbled or confusing. If she speculates, she shows you her reasoning. This is a great book for anyone interested in historical true crime, Victorian literature or just well written narrative nonfiction, especially historical writing.
    • 5/5
      This is a dramatically written account of a very high profile murder in a large middle class household in Wiltshire in 1860, which caused a nationwide sensation. A 3 year old boy, Francis Saville Kent, is found missing from his nursery and his body found stuffed down an outside privy, having been stabbed and possibly suffocated. Mr Whicher is one of the inaugural detectives appointed by Scotland Yard back in 1842 and now an experienced detective with a nuanced appreciation of the criminal mind, called in to investigate the crime. He attempts to identify the murderer and, in what is now a fictional detective cliche, antagonises the local police by coming up with different potential solutions. Almost every member of the Kent family and servants is suspected by someone or other of involvement. The main theories coalesce around an accidental death caused by the child catching his father Samuel Kent in bed with one of the servants, and murder of the child due to sibling jealousy on the part of Constance and possibly William Kent, 16 and 15 year old children of Samuel Kent by his first wife. Whicher favours the second explanation, and Constance is summoned before magistrates but there is not enough evidence for her to be committed to trial. The mystery remains unsolved.....until five years later when Constance confesses her guilt. There are still holes in her story and the public and press are reluctant to believe in the guilt of such a young woman, but she is tried and sentenced to death, though this is commuted to 20 years penal servitude after a national outcry. Constance was released after her penal servitude and followed her brother William to Australia where she became a nurse and lived to see her 100th birthday under a false identity - though these facts were only found out by her descendants in the 1970s. This book is much more than just an account of this dramatic crime, it is also a history of crime and society in the mid 19th century and there is a lot of detail of other cases in which the highly esteemed Whicher was involved, and also comparisons with the growing literary genres of sensationalist and detective fiction during the 1850s and 60s, especially with Wilkie Collins, Mary Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Inspector Bucket in Dickens's Bleak House. I thought the book sagged a bit in the middle and become a bit repetitive with the hammering home of some of these theories, but overall this was a fascinating read.
    • 4/5
      ** spoiler alert ** This book was soooo good! I even read the footnotes! Can you have spoilers in a non-fiction book? I mean, it's not as if the alleged solution isn't telegraphed to you right on the cover, now that I look at it. I'd sussed it by page 5 and a quick look through the photographs seemed to confirm it, so I guess it isn't meant to be that much of a secret. It is still a mystery, and we'll Never Know the Truth, but we can get all gurgly while guessing (or maybe it's the high-test tea I've been drinking lately).Summerscale certainly did her homework and shows the math. She catalogs the influences of the murder on literature as well as the real life detecting, which became a passion for the population of England at that time, totally captivated as they were by the particulars. Our Mr. Whicher walks into the investigation weeks late, but seems to pinpoint the most likely scenario immediately. Unfortunately, he is unable to prove it or to pressure his suspect into breaking down and confessing.There is no solution for five years, and then we have a bare-bones confession exculpating everyone else in a hundred mile radius. The confessed killer is spared the death penalty by Queen Victoria and, despite continual applications for early parole, serves the entire life sentence and goes on to lead what appears to be a blameless life. But, was there an accomplice? Was the father infected early on with syphilis causing the madness in his first wife, the deaths of many of their children, and the blindness and early demise of his second wife? Was the atmosphere in this family as poisonous as it would seem to need to be to cause the brutal murder of a young child? Or was this all just the fevered imaginings of your typical angst-ridden teens?I have one quibble with one of the photos that was represented as a mosaic of a cherub with the face of a young child as made by the confessed killer. As one who pretends to artistic abilities, I know that I tend to use my own face and body, consciously or unconsciously, when creating the human form. And if you look at the mosaic and then its creator, you will see the resemblance. Oh, it would be nice if it were the head of the murdered child, especially because it looks decapitated, but I believe it looks ever so much like Constance.
    • 4/5
      This is a most interesting book, especially for lovers of detective fiction, and anyone interested in Victorian society. But be aware: the eponymous murder is really more of a hook on which Summerscale slings a veritable wardrobe of Victoriana concerning the burgeoning vocation of the detective, and its manifestations in popular print and culture - rather than the irresistible narrative the book promises.Young Saville Kent is taken from his bed one night, and brutally murdered. The locks on the house point to one of its occupants as the culprit. Is it one of Saville's abused step-siblings? The lascivious nursemaid? Or perhaps the Master of the house, who already has more than a few skeletons rattling around in the closet?It's an undeniably catchy set-up, and it seems almost too good to be fact, echoing the plots of dozens of novels from The Moonstone to Edwin Drood. Toss in a dynamic detective who always gets his man - or woman - and all the ingredients for a cracking tale are present.And yet, reality has a way of complicating things, and Summerscale is too much of a scholar to glide over the unknown or elide the inconvenient. This means our narrative and the characters driving it quickly become subservient to the vagaries of history. The first casuality is the characters - because they aren't characters, they're people, and Summerscale, frustatingly but in many ways admirably, refuses to be drawn on their thoughts or motivations. Shortly to follow is the case itself, which starts out like a cobblestoned thoroughfare and quickly turns into a winding country lane, proceeding in fits and starts and disappearing altogether in a forest of Victorian detail. Make no mistake: The detail is in the main absolutely fascinating. Victorian society is the progenitor of so much we take for granted in the west, but at the same time it can seem like a foreign country. Summerscale's research is simply incredible; she digs up the most obscure primary sources she can find, and it gives the book and her conjectures a bullet-proof aura of credibility. There are gems like this on practically every page.But, with its complicated, messy narrative, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher can proceed slowly at times. This is _not_ a novel; it's a treatise on Victorian culture with a unique framing device. As long as you keep that in mind, you well be well rewarded by this book.
    • 3/5
      Three-year-old Saville Kent was murdered in 1860 on the grounds of the family's country estate. Mr. Whicher is one of the first detectives in England, and he demonstrates his best work in trying to solve the case.This case appealed to me and some of the details relating to the timeframe were of great interest; however, overall - I felt it lacked some spunk. There were many facts repeated, and the story dragged a bit. The book also contained the history of other family members and the era, most of which I liked learning about. (3.25/5)Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy
    • 2/5
      Painful accounting of the Road House murder in 19c England. Readings of court documents, letters, newspaper and magazine stories give the history. It's told in an lack luster way. Very repetitive. I didn't enjoy this book at all, yet I was able to force myself to finish it.
    • 4/5
      This is one of the best researched books I have ever come across, an unravelling of a Victorian child murder with all the ingredients of an Agatha Christie novel - and more. I was still a bit disappointed - and at times bored - by the narrative, ironically because what makes the book great also makes it less enjoyable. Summerscale adds all details she knows, not only of the crime, but of the times in which the crime was committed, and the characters' other endeavours before, during and after the events took place. By doing this I feel she misses the true drama: the lives these charcters really lived, their inner life that led to this terrible crime. She writes with a detached air and forces the viewers to colour in the details. Judging from the reviews, most readers enjoy and commend that. I, however, felt a bit detached myself by it.
    • 2/5
      Book club choice, but dissappointing. Usually I love to read about social history but this was so long and drawn out it made it a tiresome read. I did learn lots about the history of the formation of Scotland Yard's early detectives - I had never really thought about it, but I think this grusome child murder case was just an excuse for a dull amassing of facts about the man in the title, together with a few others who are of note in the history books, althought the relationships between the family and the locals was interesting. Would I recommend this book to a friend? NO. Took it on holiday but it felt like homework so I found something more interesting instead in the hotel library (Grey Iles - Dark Matter, excellent).
    • 2/5
      I made it through Chapter 4 and then it was time for book club. I was incredibly disturbed by the actual murder, but then even more annoyed by how slow and convoluted this story seemed to be. I'm certain the author could have done something to make it lass confusing, right? Then on top of all that, I figured out who did it by the time they had the funeral for the poor little boy. I really didn't love it.
    • 3/5
      True story about the murder of a young boy by his older half sister, back in the mid 1800s in England. One of the early examples of detective work. Author uses story to illuminate history of mystery lit. Not bad. Could have used more pruning.
    • 4/5
      A true story of the murder of a child in 1860 in England. An interesting tale, but in the end, kind of anticlimactic. The detective accuses someone early in the investigation, but they are let off, and his reputation is tarnished. This really wasn't as much a mystery story as it was a comparison to the new genre of detective novels introduced at this time.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. First time I haven't wanted to put a book down for ages. Read in a couple of days.
    • 4/5
      So many have raved about this book here. I'm not quite sure what all the fuss was about. It was very readable and I like how she placed the event in the context of what was going on in terms of the crime and police worlds and society in general - and this case's impact on detective fiction.But overall, there really was no 'gripping' element. It's quite clear from early on that the detective's suspicions about whodunnit were correct.
    • 5/5
      This book was an excellent example of historical true crime in the way of The Devil in the White City. The author did an excellent job of capturing the historical setting and cultural backdrop of the time while also recreating the crime and investigation in a style that echoed the popular detective novels of that age.
    • 4/5
      This is a thoroughly-researched, highly readable history of a sensational murder investigation in Victorian England. The author has written a narrative history, so the final reveal of the murderer's identity is held until its proper place in the narrative. That sustained tension is very helpful, since the author also wants to use the case as a window onto broader themes of the era, which slows the book down. In particular, Summerscale has mined Victorian writers - Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and a slew of retired police memoirists - for passages that echo events and twists in the investigation. That's not a stretch; Dickens and Collins appear to have been strongly influenced by the case, with details of the crime and investigation showing up in some of their later plots. But it does mean that the thread of the core story is constantly disappearing behind cartloads of contextual scenery. The story itself reaches a suitably arresting conclusion - unless, of course, the official solution is still wrong.
    • 5/5
      one of my many peculiarities is that i'll take the building blocks of a genre almost any day over what they eventually built towards. for example, i've very much found myself drawn to pre-1930 science fiction almost out of inherent awkwardness but also out of fascination of seeing conventions slowly take form and develop rather than be wearily retrodden for the umpteenth time. crime fiction is a bit of a misnomer within that though. i came to crime fiction as a teenage because i liked the campion tv series and fancied reading some of the originals, and also - like a lot of slightly awkward teenage boys whose favourite doctor who stories included "the talons of weng chiang" - because i'd been fully immersed in the worlds of sherlock holmes since before i could ever remember. i've come back regularly to those foundation works though, especially of late. when i read the howard haycraft book on the history of the crime novel and also t j binyon's masterpiece, i particularly found that shadowy, early world of crime fiction - before it reached it's sort of commercial and popular peak with the golden age and then moved into umpteen million different directions, with that orginal format atrophying into the dreaded world of the cosy crime novel - fascinating. partly because i recognised a lot of it from my dabbling in holmes and holmesiana, but also because here was a world where the cliches *hadn't* been discovered yet to be flogged to deaththis last year i've read more than i can care to remember of the likes of victor whitechurch, baroness orczy and countless other short stories in rivals of sherlock holmes styled collections. like my other beloved genre of the period - ghost stories - some have creaked, some have shown early promise and then withered away to nothing, while others have been frankly startlingly brilliant. there's something eternally fascinating about the victorian era for me, in terms of art and literature and even just the people themselves. this time in british history where people were beginning to get almost scared by developments in science and technology and almost clung, desperately to mysteries - be it supernatural or psychological. certainities seem to have scared the people of the mid nineteenth century more than we can ever really understand now. and i think crime fiction has a lot to do with that. the point of this, is that i've just finished reading kate summerscale's phenomenal "the suspicions of mr whicher", the history of the infamous 1860 road hill house murder, and the most fascinating element of it to me - other than it's dominance in so much of crime fiction to come - is how little the general public wanted the certainty of the actual solution of the crime to come out. inspector jack whicher's solution to the crime was roundly mocked and derided, the previously much admired policeman, especially by charles dickens and wilkie collins, had a career pretty much in tatters and even when whicher was proved to be right, no one seemed to want to believe it. it's fascinating to see how many innordinately complex and convuluted solutions the public - and, it must be said, authors such as dickens - were prepared to accept rather than the awful reality of the case. and even when the truth was discovered, you get the feeling that there was a hint of... disappointment? this mystery had been solved and the solution was found wanting. certainly the myriad creative works the case would inspire would almost unanimously reject the real story and go back to the favoured complicated pet theories of adultery and dark goings on with the hired helpto be honest, no ammount of puffery and flummery from me can do this book justice. summerscale's brilliance is that she deals with the murder with the same simplicity and keen eye for detail that she so obviously admires in her titular hero, whicher. whicher is something of an enigma - no photos remain, his back story remains shadowy despite summerscale's obviously dogged research, but he was roundly admired by many before the road hill case and elements of his professional manner have, as summerscale points out, become something of the psychological make up of almost every detective since: quiet, unassuming, melancholy, keen eyed, quick witted and solitary. he became the template for detective sergeant cuff, the hero of one of the first great british crime novels, "the moonstone" by wilkie collins and he also was borrowed from by dickens' to create "bleak house"'s inspector bucket, although that was mainly a tribute to whicher's one time boss charley field. summerscale also points out that the inherent distrust of the police that seemed to develop from the unpopularity of whicher's solution to the crime - one that *really* seemed to grip the whole country - led to the dominance of the professional amateur set by the sherlock holmes stories, and the police as well meaning dunderheadsyou are frankly never ceasingly amazed by the amount of popular culture that this case seemed to inspire. dickens, collins, henry james, "lady audley's secret"... i had no idea that "the christmas party" segment of "dead of night", one of my very favourite films of all time (and certainly the most terrifying), was inspired by this case. even golden age detective hack writer john rhodes wrote a version of the story. when you start to look at the frenzy surrounding this you are firstly yet AGAIN reminded there is nothing new under the sun (the ignorance of much of the general populus, the whipping up of popular sentiment by the press) and then amazed by how many of the cliches of the crime genre start here: the country house; dark secrets in family histories; the importance of motive; the lost evidence; stupid local police; local colour. it's all here and it was all real. and, as with so many books i've read lately, the truth of the story is even more striking than the fiction it inspired. dear god, the case even touches on the tichborne claimant. summerscale's true genius is tying up all these loose ends, tidying them up and then revealing the wider, broader picture of a fascinating period of british history. i cannot recommend this book enough
    • 4/5
      The book chronicles a murder mystery in 1860's England and parallels the development of the detective profession alongside the development of detective fiction, especially British detective fiction.