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The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Or the Murder at Road Hill House

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Author: Kate Summerscale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

12 reviews
Sales Rank: 39

Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.5

ISBN: 0747582157
EAN: 9780747582151
ASIN: 0747582157

Publication Date: April 7, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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Customer Reviews:

Showing reviews 6-10 of 12

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Brilliantly researched and completely engrossing May 1, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

The murder of a young child which took place at Road Hill House, Wiltshire in 1860 captured the imagination of the public and turned everyone into amateur detectives. The perfect example of a country house murder with a finite amount of suspects also inspired writers of the time such as Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

'The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher' is structured so that first, we learn the details of the crime, then we learn about the investigation which leads on to what happened next and the author's own theory based on the evidence. To say this book is well-researched in something of an understatement; if someone goes through a toll road, we know how much they pay; if someone moves to London we find out who they lived next door to; if someone left a will, we find out exactly what they left and to whom. I'm sure this level of detail would be irritating to some, but I found it absolutely incredible!

The book is also interesting in giving us a taste of the time, the attitudes of the people, the ways in which the Police force was growing and how events were shaping literature.

This is an extraordinary achievement and engrossing throughout. I can't wait to see what she will come up with next!

4 out of 5 stars

Murder most horrid April 28, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

A really engrossing country house murder told with all the suspense and horror that the nation felt on reading the accounts in the press. Summerscale weaves the developments in detection, and how the social scandals of the time were influencing and shaping the definition of the novel itself.
Unlike other reviewers, and having never experienced lsd (pounds, shillings and pence btw), I was amazed at just how many pennies were in a pound and what a shilling could buy!

It isn't perfect: for example there is a theory left to the very end which never gets a proper consideration in the rest of the text.
Also I wonder whilst highlighting the social realities of the time, that some discussion about the huge social restraint placed on women, both the lady of the house and the maid, might have added extra depth.

Still highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

9/10 - excellent book. Some criticisms, but don't let that put you off. April 23, 2008
12 out of 15 found this review helpful

This is an excellent book, without doubt: a fascinating true story told well. There are criticisms to be made - strong criticisms even - but they do not change the fact that you will almost certainly hugely enjoy reading this. My criticisms are as follows. I put them here more to mitigate similar criticisms others have made than to do down the author of a basically excellent book.

1. The passages quoting from detective fiction of the period do not really add very much, and they are a distraction. At any rate, there is too much of it. This book is not, or ought not to have tried to be, a general study of detectives or detective fiction. Of course it is hugely interesting to read about Whicher the man and the historical context of his job as a detective, but whole pages here and there full of largely irrelevant extracts from Wilkie Collins et al, accompanied by oft-repeated banal observations from the author along the lines of "the role of a detective was to unravel a seemingly inextricable knot of threads", have more than a whiff of waffle about them.

2. Money. Why is she so obsessed with the price of things in 1860? Yes, a pound was a lot of money in those days. We get the idea. Telling us that a particular person paid 5s 6d for a train fare doesn't make it any more real, it just conjures up an image of the author sitting in a library hardly able to restrain herself with excitement and wonder (for the umpteenth time) at the fact that things cost more now than they used to. It's like she's boring a five-year-old by banging on about the olden days.

3. Explaining language. I didn't know that "denouement" means "unknotting", nor that "clue" came from "clew" meaning "thread". I'm glad to have been told. Jolly interesting. But she gets irrelevant and didactic about it in places. At one point the detective goes to Somerset. There follows a long paragraph explaining *for no reason whatsoever* the meaning of a few bits of random dialect from the county. Not interesting or necessary. It makes the book feel (only very occasionally) like a school project or a rambling radio broadcast.

4. Annoying photo on the flyleaf. Okay, so most flyleaf photos are slightly annoying, but really, this one massively predisposed me against her. Maybe that's just me.

But despite all that, it's a really cracking good book, well worth buying for yourself or another. Seriously, I'm recommending it to my friends.

5 out of 5 stars

Great stuff - amazing detective story April 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I loved this book - couldn't put it down at all. Even better the fact that it is all real, so you get into it more. It was written really well, enough of the hard facts but in an intriguing edge of your seat type manner.

5 out of 5 stars

The birth of detective fiction and the death of a child April 11, 2008
53 out of 53 found this review helpful

This book is as much a history of Victorian social values and the emerging field of detective fiction in the nineteenth century as it is a book about a hideous country house murder in 1860. Researched using original police papers from the National Archives, books on the crime and many more sources, the book tells the story of the Road Hill House murder of 1860, when a three year old boy was brutally slain by another occupant of his home. The book sets out to detail the case, from the original event to the investigation by Scotland Yard detective Jack Whicher, to the aftermath suffered by the entire family.

It's extremely well written and well researched, and even though there is little to add suspense considering anyone with an Internet connection can discover the identity of the murderer, Summerscale still manages to inject a certain air of tension into proceedings, drawing things out as they must have unfolded at the time. With a peculiar ability to grab your attention and hold it firmly, the book is difficult to put down, and a thoroughly fascinating read for anyone with an interest in detective fiction, real life crime or a historical period that throws up as many questions as it answers.

Highly recommended.