The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective | 
 enlarge | Author: Kate Summerscale
Publisher: Walker & Company
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 166
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.5
ISBN: 0802715354
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1523094231
EAN: 9780802715357
ASIN: 0802715354
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
 Not usually much of a true crime reader, but I loved this one! July 26, 2008
On a dark night in a country estate called Road Hill House a young boy, Saville Kent, is brutally murdered. Child of an unpopular government inspector, the suspect list for the gristly death is long, ranging from his nursemaid Elizabeth Gough and his father Samuel Kent to former servants and complete strangers. The local police don't know what to do - violent murders aren't part of their daily routine - so they summon a detective from London with experience investigating homicides. Scotland Yard sends one of their best men: Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher.
In Kate Summerscale's "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher", we are treated to more than a mere murder mystery. This book covers the facts of the case, but she also paints a broader picture of Victorian society as a whole, and the ramifications of Whicher's investigations. The attitudes of the middle- and upper classes towards working-class men like Whicher hindered his investigation time and time again. Searches for evidence were half-hearted and skipped entirely in the house of Samuel Kent, because local constables didn't want to disturb the peace of the family. Whicher bypasses this sensitivity and dives right into his investigation, rummaging through nightdresses and prying into the past of the Kent family. England is shocked. In 1860 this was absolutely inappropriate behavior. Detectives were a relatively new addition to the to the police and were considered barely above the dark underworld they worked in, for how could they know so much about criminals unless they were villains themselves? But even as society shook their heads and disapproved they clung to every word printed by newspapers as a "detective-mania" swept the country. Summerscale examines the role of detectives in fiction, and shows the many ways that Whicher's work in the Road Hill House murder inspired the great writers of the era: Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, and even American Dashiell Hammett.
The book is also an intriguing look back to the forensics and crime scene technology available in the days before DNA could easily prove guilt or innocence. A single piece of evidence could make or break a case, and it was far too easy to make a false accusation for every policeman could read the evidence differently. In fact, many amateur "armchair" detectives flooded Scotland Yard with suggestions in the case, especially when Whicher's controversial conclusion is unable to stand in court because a critical piece of evidence is unable to be produced. A fascinating book about the birth of the detective and the tribulations of Mr. Whicher as he struggles with one of the most shocking crimes of his time; true-crime fans everywhere grab a chair and settle in for a good read.
The Origin of the Species July 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you enjoy detective novels and also have an interest in sociology and literary history, this is the book for you. It is very well-written, with neither sensationalism, nor clumsy appeals to popular cliches about either the very wealthy, the working-classes, or the really, really evil. The murderer is no secret, but there are two interesting "twists" at the end: one that will not come as much of a surprise to dedicated murder-mystery readers and the other -- well, I won't give that away.
This book does not merely recount the the murder of a young boy, Saville Kent, who was stolen out of his bedroom in the middle of the night, murdered, and dumped in the servants' privy, but also describes the origins and early history of Scotland Yard, birth of the "detective," and genesis of the detective novel. Summerscale contends that many of the conventions and themes of the detective novel were developed during the period shortly after the Kent murder, as the media, public and authors of fiction and nonfiction sought to understand and explain both that crime, and other violent murders that took place during the same period. Such conventions and themes include the imperfect but brilliant detective, the country-house slaying commited by one of the home's inhabitants, a concealed family history, and the hiding of personal histories that contained embarrassing "truths" unrelated to the crime. In the genre that developed over the next decades, the detective was depicted as both psychologist and crime expert, a shrewd judge of character whose timely "intuitions" assisted him (or her) in peeling back layers of fantasy and deception to uncover the truth. The prototype of this sleuth was Mr. Whicher, the "real" detective who solves the real Kent murder.
Ms. Summerscale also describes British family life during this era, including the fundamental English values of privacy and independence -- a man's home is his castle -- that made detectives and police work simultaneously fascinating and threatening. Her detective -- the Mr. Whicher of the title -- became the prototype for many future fictional detectives. At the same time, she makes the family of whom she writes, including the two "mothers" who set the tale in motion and the children who carry dark secrets in their hearts and, finally, their genes, real, sympathetic and compelling.
I read this book straight through. Definitely worthwhile for anyone who enjoys murder mysteries, is interested in Victorian England, or has an interest in literature and literary history.
 Det-Insp. Whicher is a fascinating hero July 21, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As the mid-19th century approached, England saw the need for a new force of police detectives whose jurisdiction had no bounds, who could cross counties and even the entire UK to stop crime. The new elite force became known as Scotland Yard, and Jonathan "Jack" Whicher was one of its first eight detectives. He was remarkably good at his job.
Whicher is a fascinating detective whose ability to spot in a crowd the one person dressed inappropriately or behaving suspiciously helped him prevent dozens of crimes. He had an eye for the out-of-the-ordinary. He was also mysterious, a shadow figure of whom no known photograph exists. Author Summerscale gives us summaries of some of Detective Whicher's early cases, and we are intrigued; we want to know about his entire career. He's that kind of detective.
When a three-year-old boy named Saville Kent is strangled, stabbed, has his throat cut, and is found in the urinal well of an outhouse, somebody within the house is suspected - whether a family member or one of the family's servants. The public and press have their suspicions, but when Whicher is brought from Scotland Yard to assist, he soon has his suspicion, too - Saville's teenaged half-sister Constance Kent. She walks for lack of evidence, Whicher returns to London amidst criticism from the press and public, and his career is finished. Five years later, it's shown that Whicher was right all along, but it's too late - he's already retired.
Ancillary issues are discussed within the narrative: for one thing, the Kent case illustrates to the public the idea that even an average Victorian home might possess secrets, adultery, and madness. Another matter discussed by Summerscale is the public's sudden thirst for "sensation fiction" and detective fiction - the latter provided by such literary giants as Dickens, Hardy, and Wilkie Collins, among others. Whicher and the Kent case inspired much of this fiction.
But the center of the story, for me, is Detective Whicher himself - an intriguing and talented detective. If I can't find more true crime stories about Whicher, I may just have to write them myself.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher July 10, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
A brutal, seemingly motiveless murder and the attempts of an exceptional detective to solve the crime are the crux of Kate Summerscale's compelling book, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. In the early hours of June 29th, 1860, four year old Saville Kent is horribly slain and stuffed down the hole of the outdoor lavatory. Although the family is not liked among the close community, the suspicion falls on the members of the household, including the maids, governesses and the Kents themselves. When the case becomes unsolvable for the local magistrates, Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher is dispatched to solve the crime that has so puzzled and horrified the town. What follows are the attempts of a genius detective to solve an unlikely crime. Through missing evidence, hazy claims of madness and adultery, and a public appetite for all the gory details of the murder, Jack Whicher becomes embroiled in the case that ultimately costs him his reputation and public regard.
Whicher is the ultimate detective. Able to accurately pinpoint suspects using scant information and relying heavily on his own hunches, he rises through the ranks of law enforcement rapidly, eventually leading the first group of detectives in history. He is the model upon which the first fictional detectives are based, and his prowess and skill are fully highlighted in this book. Throughout the story, Whicher isn't afraid to pose unpopular speculations, and though the public denounces his hypothesis, he steadfastly works to bring the killer to justice. I found him to be a remarkable man whose abilities were far beyond the time in which he lived, far beyond what we even now expect a detective to be.
One of the most intriguing things about this book was the public involvement and mania regarding this case. From the adulation of the detective prototype by the likes of Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe, to the involvement of the public in their mass attendance of the trial, the community's hunger for this case was arresting in it's detail. Many of the townspeople wrote letters speculating who the killer might be; one man even falsely confessed to the crime. It was very ironic that the public at that time was so negatively disposed to the idea of surveillance and detection. The idea that people could be spied upon and that their private homes and their proclivities could be brought into the open was extremely uncomfortable for them to imagine. Many looked upon the detective and his colleagues as unsavory operatives waiting to invade the sanctity of their private lives and abodes. It seemed as though they were eager to find out the secrets of the Kent family while shunning the detection that brought these facts to light. It must have been a fine line to walk for Detective Whicher, whose successes only compounded the community's distrust.
The book was meticulously researched and heavily laden with facts. Not only was I privy to the social customs of the time, but also to other murder investigations, detective literature of the time, and facts about the principal characters' private lives. The book was at once enveloping and confidential, while still being surprising and unconventional. The suspense of the story was meted out in an atypical way, and although it ended in a conundrum that couldn't be solved, it was still very satisfying. The one quibble I had with the book was the tremendous quantity of facts throughout. At times it was a little overwhelming. Later chapters seemed to be balanced better and I began to see that the story may have sacrificed some of its urgency by displacing its factual density. The inclusion of photographs and maps was also an illuminating and welcome touch.
This book was a very rich and intricate look at a crime that may not be familiar to many, but whose implications and originality have forever shaped the way crimes are handled today. An interesting approach to the crime novel and an enlightening picture of times past.
Amazing book about the detective June 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I really liked how this book explained that many of the fictional detectives were based on the detectives in this case. Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and many other writers used the detectives in this case as models for their fictional detectives.
I read mostly fiction, so a non-fiction book was a slight deviation. I enjoyed the references to the books of the time.
It was so interesting to find out how the lives of the family, servants, and detictives turned out after the case was resolved. The confession by one person relieved others from suspicion and blame by the public.
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