The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher [Paperback]

'Summerscale has constructed nothing less than a masterpiece. My shelves are stacked with books about crime, but none more satisfying than this.'

'It is a beautiful piece, written with great lucidity and respect for the reader, and with immaculate restraint. A classic, to my mind, of the finest documentary writing.' John Le Carre 'A pacy analysis of a true British murder case from 1860, the unravelling of which involved one of the earliest Scotland Yard detectives and inspired sensation novelists such as Dickens and Wilkie Collins Absolutely riveting' Sarah Waters, Guardian 'Summerscale has constructed nothing less than a masterpiece My shelves are stacked with books about crime, but none more satisfying than this' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'Sparse, melancholy, beautifully written the year's most beguiling biography' Independent

Summerscale has produced not only a dazzling non-fiction thriller, but also an acute work of literary and social history.'

Summerscale has done excellent research in ferreting out the details of this curious case . . . a remarkable achievement.'

Very simply, this is a fantastic book, fantastically written and it's a book of deep moral purpose.

Very simply, this is a fantastic book, fantastically written and it's a book of deep moral purpose. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Just terrific... I thought there was a nimbleness to the writing. It's dense with detail but yet there is a lightness to it that is very unusual for even a very good detective story... One of the great things is it opens up a new door, you're looking into a life that is very accurately and richly described and you learn a lot about the period - you're in a very well-sailed boat. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

What the book does brilliantly...is look at notions of class, criminality, human nature and religion in an age of change... engrossing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'The best locked-room murder story you'll read all year. Bravo to Summerscale for breathing so much life into what could have been a dustily historical police procedural.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

It is a summer's night in 1860. In an elegant detached Georgian house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet. Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep. At some point after midnight a dog barks. The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later. He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects. The murder provokes national hysteria. The thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes - scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing - arouses fear and a kind of excitement. But when Whicher reaches his shocking conclusion there is uproar and bewilderment. A true story that inspired a generation of writers such as Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, this has all the hallmarks of the classic murder mystery - a body; a detective; a country house steeped in secrets. In The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale untangles the facts behind this notorious case, bringing it back to vivid, extraordinary life.

Kate Summerscale was born in 1965. She is the author of the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, which won a Somerset Maugham award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. She has also judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize. She lives in London with her five-year-old son.