Book info

• Title The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
• Author Kate Summerscale
• Year 2008
• Genre Non-fiction

On a summer's morning in 1860, the Kent family awakes in their elegant Wiltshire home to a terrible discovery; their youngest son has been brutally murdered. When celebrated detective Jack Whicher is summoned from Scotland Yard he faces the unenviable task of identifying the killer – when the grieving family are the suspects. The original Victorian whodunnit, the murder and its investigation provoked national hysteria at the thought of what might be festering behind the locked doors of respectable homes – scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing.

Thoughts

I like how the story of this real life crime is pieced together, from obviously thorough research. Bits and pieces about the crime itself, the aftermath and the lives of all involved before the event took place are slotted into place like some kind of terrible jigsaw.

It’s interesting to read about the process the detectives went through, it all seems so clumsy and unfounded when compared to our current processes but he still ended up with what appears to be the right answer - even if our Mr Whicher couldn’t quite prove it successfully.

There’s a lot still unsolved about this crime, and plenty of questions that will probably never be answered but it’s still interesting to read what we do know and then spend time pondering the rest.

Rating: 3 / 5