The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective in What's the Name of That Book???

Jun 17, 2009 Daniel rated it it was ok

Shelves: first-edition, 2009

It's a bit hard to understand all the acclaim "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" has received. A recounting of the murder of a three-year-old English boy in 1860 as well as an exploration of the killing's impact on detective work both real and fictional, the book certainly isn't terrible but does suffer from being something of a data dump for the author.

It seems Kate Summerscale felt a need to give us every niggling detail she was able to dig up about the murder, its coverage by the press at the ti It's a bit hard to understand all the acclaim "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" has received. A recounting of the murder of a three-year-old English boy in 1860 as well as an exploration of the killing's impact on detective work both real and fictional, the book certainly isn't terrible but does suffer from being something of a data dump for the author.

It seems Kate Summerscale felt a need to give us every niggling detail she was able to dig up about the murder, its coverage by the press at the time, and the family history of each of the case's principles. She also not only ties in every famous piece of literature loosely connected to the case -- the Sherlock Holmes stories, Wilkie Collins's "The Moonstone," Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw," and Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" among them -- but also gives readers the etymology of myriad detective terms, from "clue" and "red herring" to "sleuth" and "hunch."

None of this is bad in and of itself. Summerscale clearly intends to use the investigation of Saville Kent's murder as a starting point to discuss the rise of the modern detective and the development of the mystery novel. The problem is that her analysis of the subject is relatively shallow. There's almost nothing here that someone with a rudimentary knowledge of the history of detective fiction and police work would be surprised by. One comes away with the feeling that Summerscale really wanted to write about only the Kent case itself, found herself with too little material, and ended up padding the story with anything tenuously connected to the crime.

Another problem with the book is the title character, Jonathan Whicher himself. So little is known about the detective beyond his involvement in the Kent investigation -- it's not clear whether or not he had a son, for instance, and Summerscale is left guessing what earlier cases he might have worked on -- that it seems a miscalculation to put the weight of the book on his shoulders. The crime, too, is not quite enough to carry the book. Sure, the murder of a three-year-old would always be shocking, and was probably even more so in its day. But the victim, being a three-year-old, is by definition a less-than-fascinating character. Don't the best murder mysteries -- and Summerscale herself says at the outset that she's hoping to recreate a murder mystery with this book -- have the most intriguing victims?

All criticisms aside, and I realize I've heaped a lot on "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher," the book is obviously thoroughly researched -- arguably too well-researched -- and Summerscale's prose is clear, straightforward and free of unnecessary ornamentation. The book doesn't invite loathing, certainly, but is quite a slog to get through. And the reader isn't left feeling it was much worth the effort. ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Marigold rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, mysteries, true-crime

This was an interesting book, though not a great one, & it felt uneven to me. First, for the confused, this is a work of non-fiction. It's the story of a sensational "locked room" murder that took place in mid-19th century England. It's also about how the story influenced writers of the time such as Dickens & Wilkie Collins. It's about the early days of crime detection & the men who were the first detectives, & how their new science & their personalities were soon woven into the fiction of the t ...more

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Apr 15, 2013 Melissa Rochelle rated it it was ok

Shelves: ebook, own, nonfiction, abandoned

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. ...more

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