The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or The Murder at Road Hill House

Suspicions of Whicher is a non-fiction account of a murder that took place in 1860. The book is a historical look at not only the murder, the people suspected and those trying to solve it, but also of the murder's place in history. It was an event that transfixed a Victorian nation, made and ruined careers and initiated a passion amongst the general public for crime mysteries that exists today.At its core the book looks at the murder of three year old Saville Kent in 1860, who is taken from his bed in the middle of the night and found the next morning dumped in the cesspit with his throat cut. The police quickly realise nobody could have entered the house so the murderer must be a member of the family or the house staff. When the local police draw a blank one of London's top plain clothes detectives, a new branch of the metropolitan police, is sent to solve the shocking murder. The book in the main follows Detective Inspector Whicher's attempts to discover the murderer and his struggle to prove they did it.The narrative structure despite being non-fiction works to emulate the type of murder mystery novel the case went onto inspire. This is the only negative I have. The narrative is clear and captivating throughout and does work as a mystery construct in the first half while the time and story are set-up. But by hanging onto who the murderer is, it gets frustrating, especially as it quickly becomes obvious who did it. The strength of this book is not in solving the mystery, but in giving us a revealing cross-section of a Victorian society that seems equally distant and incredibly familiar to the present day. At 30% I looked up the Road Hill murder to confirm who the murderer was, so I could go back and enjoy the fascinating world Kate Summerscale expertly creates.It is the world created by Kate Summerscale that makes this book worth every penny and minute you spend on it. It gives a real sense of the time and very cleverly stages the era in context to the modern day. In 1860 the recent invention of the telegraph had opened up world communications in a way similar to the internet in the modern day. The availability of information had given rise to the popular press, who operated much as they do today. And with the spread of information criminals were better informed, giving rise to the need of specialist policing units. Despite the 150 year gap between then and now we are constantly shown the similarities between the times in the nature of humanity, strikingly how little things have changed in the constructs of society if you discount the technology surrounding us. The media and commentary of the time were unnervingly similar to what we are served today.If you have any interest in history, the shaping of our modern cultures and the substance of humanity, then this is a fascinating window to look at the past through. The murder and its coverage became a marker in time, influencing many key figures including Charles Dickens. Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down, finishing it in one night and day.As an aside, the back of the book is full of references and some pictures, so the actual narrative finishes at 79% (Kindle).Very highly recommended. I hope this was helpful.

"Do you feel an uncomfortable heat at the pit of your stomach, sir? and a nasty thumping at the top of your head? Ah! not yet? It will lay hold of you.....I call it the detective-fever. From Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie CollinsKate Summerscale has written an in-depth descriptive and probing account about a Murder which took place in the early hours of Saturday 30th June 1860, the victim Saville Kent, age just three. I say probing because this particular Murder caused shock waves through Britain at that time. It was a major sensation for the newspapers; who couldn't get enough of it. Printing laid out floor plans of Road Hill House, re-constructing the scene of a crime and an in-depth account of each member of the household and servants alike. The public took so much interest in this case it was like a fever that had swept over the nation; every person in Britain seemed to have their own angle of this one case. Letters flooded into Scotland yard; with ideas of who could have committed such an evil crime in this particular household. Author Charles Dickens was Intrigued by it all and was already familiar with the detective leading this investigation, while Author Wilkie Collins borrowed ideas from it.England, early morning June 30th 1860, Road Hill House located five miles from Trowbirdge Wiltshire, Saville Kent aged three years ten months was found missing from his bed. Later that same morning he was found by servants in a most disturbing way; stuffed down a make shift toilet; the boys throat had been cut. Murder on the streets of London was one thing but a child to be taken from a bedroom in a remote area of a middle class family home while they all slept was quite another.The suspects: At first the local police were reluctant to disturb the Kent's family household; they had never experienced anything quite like this, so there was some hesitation about intruding on family privacy. Also the local police did not want interference from London so everything was taking off at a slow pace, interviewing the locals of course, plodding along and going no where. Scotland Yard after many weeks finally interceded, Enter: Detective Jonathan " Jack Whicher", who was one of eight original Scotland Yard detectives.Jack Whicher forty-five, rose through the ranks quickly with his uncanny ability to recall information, especially visual images, with great accuracy and clarity (photographic memory). Whicher also had a string of successes under his belt, prone to working undercover operations had apprehended a thief who had made off with a Leonardo da Vinci painting and also foiled a plot from revolutionaries who attempted the assassination of Napoleon III in Paris. Whicher was what they called around this time a new breed of detectives and many writers/authors at that time switched tactics from writing about Villains to the new victorian/modern detective. Whicher didn't waste any time in invading the privacy of the Kent's family household and homed in on certain family members, nursemaids, interviewing servants anybody in the area on that fateful morning.Meanwhile Britain went into overdrive with Whicher-fever; books were written, pamphlets were issued, theories upon theories flooded into the press, a journalist bluffed his way into the household had a good look around and even questioned family members. Samuel Kent the father of Saville was pin pointed as chief suspect by one newspaper, while one of his daughters Constance received fan marriage proposals. *Pausing for thought here, "Doesn't this still go on today"?This whole case had taken it's toll on all involved, Jack Whicher came away from this case a broken man, he had his suspicions; but lacked proof. The case was an organized chaos, details caught in confusion. Whicher needed to be on this case right from the start being brought in so late; what were his chances of succeeding? Five years later a trail begins on a confession that doesn't even add up and by the time the trail had finished even Queen Victoria had intervened a prison sentence was passed instead of an execution. Whicher bared nothing but a heavy weight on his shoulders from this case, he died in 1881.Summing up; what I loved about this book, well; it's a historical piece; as well as crime based and yet through all the courtroom drama, testimony and speculations; it does leave us readers to draw on our own conclusions from this riveting case. Kate Summerscale also goes into terrific details; understanding motivation and the psychology and she doesn't stop on just suspects and murder, Summerscale gets descriptive on all different subjects in general. We veer off in all kinds of directions; sometimes I felt we veered too far; and you have to think back at stages on the original topic at hand, but your more or less guided through each stage of this book brilliantly.Kate Summerscale did a fantastic job of sorting through the mess, the only thing missing for me, Jack Whicher thoughts on this case; it seems to be lacking thoughts from the Detective himself after 1865.*After thought on Jack Whicher, his protege was Adolphus "Frederick Williamson", one of the leads on the Jack the Ripper case*All Round Thought-Provoking Book; Recommend.Andrea Bowhill

"The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" is a thoroughly engrossing examination of the Road Hill House murder in 1860.Class and gender distinctions bedeviled the case to such a degree that the primary suspect was deemed innocent because of those considerations. Only when the murderer eventually confessed to the crime was the murder eventually explained.I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in history, crime and the Victorian sensibility.

A very good edition of a very well writen and thoroughly researched book. I greatly enjoyed reading this account of the murder investigation run by the clever and unlucky Mr Whicher, member of the first London detectives team. The book is complete with very interesting pictures. A thoroughly researched account of a murder investigation in Victorian England. A very enjoyable read.

This is a fascinating story on so many levels: a study of a family's dark secrets, brought to light by a determined detective; the unraveling of clues leading to the solving of a grisly murder; a study of Victorian society, mores, and family life; and a fascinating character study not only of the family involved in the murder, but also of the detective who doggedly sought to solve the crime. This book is well-researched, yet seldom becomes bogged down in too much detail (and, well, detail is essential when one is attempting to solve a crime, after all). Detective Whicher, working at the dawn of his profession, is one of the most successful and best-known of the time. Thus he is sent to solve the murder of a small child when the only viable suspects are those who were in the house at the time -- the family and its servants. He treads therefore on shaky ground and his suspicions make him extremely unpopular with the family and the public. This is a story as much about his the damage done to his reputation, and the pain it causes him, as it is about the crime he seeks to solve. The fact that he had to use what clues (even the word "clue" was new!) he could, in an age before DNA testing, fingerprints, and other more sophisticated means of criminal analysis were available, makes his story all the more mesmerizing. Detectives often had to use their gut instincts, but instincts alone couldn't solve crimes, even if they were correct. The juxtaposition of the unhappy family, seeking to keep its problems secret, the detective who is forced to unearth those secrets to solve the crime, and the society at large which is dealing with a new age not only in the family, but in science and religion, makes for a fascinating story. I recommend it highly, especially for anyone interested in mystery, crime-solving, and the Victorian Age.

Kate Summerscales Buch über einen wahren Mordfall aus dem Jahr 1860 und dessen Auswirkungen auf die damalige englische Gesellschaft ist vieles: eine Dokumentation, eine spannende Rekonstruktion eines Mordfalls und insbesondere eine kenntnisreiche und kreative Studie über die Faszination am Verbrechen und die gesellschaftliche Funktion des Detektivs in der Viktorianischen Epoche.Der Stil des Buches ist beizeiten dröge, die Sprache durch viele Zitate aus Büchern, Presseberichten und polizeilichen Akten mitunter gestelzt, weil eben alt, aber gerade dieser Tonfall macht den Reiz aus, den das Buch hat. Summerscale jongliert mit den Fakten, sie reibt Theorien über den brutalen Mord an dem dreijährigen Francis Saville Kent, die öffentliche und sensationslüsterne Berichtserstattung und das Echo, welches der Fall insbesondere in der damals knospenden Detektiv-Literatur fand, experimentierfreudig aneinander und kreiert dadurch ein lärmendes, überzeugendes Panorama jener rastlosen Wochen und Monate, in denen Heerscharen von wohlmeinenden, aber allzu unfähigen Ermittlern, Nachbarn und Freunden durch das Haus der Kents in Road liefen und die schreckliche, die Volksseele Englands verunsichernde Tat zu erhellen versuchten.Inmitten dieses Durcheinanders platziert Summerscale ihren Titelhelden, Jack Whicher, jenen nach ihrer Interpretation ersten großen Detective von Scotland Yard, einen Mann, in dem sich Wagemut, Scharfsinn und Instinkt zu einer formidablen Mischung verbanden und der doch von dem Hype, den der Mord an dem Kent-Jungen und seinem "unanständigen" Verdacht, der ebenfalls den Titel des Buches ziert, fast zugrunde gerichtet wurde.Der Bericht Summerscales neigt gelegentlich zur Wiederholung bereits präsentierter Fakten, die Fülle der in die Angelegenheit als mögliche Täter, als Zeugen, Ermittler, Strafverfolger, selbsternannte Meinungsführer und anderweitig von dem Fall faszinierte Zeitgenossen verstrickten Personen lässt zudem mitunter den Kopf schwirren, aber letztlich tritt nur eine Handvoll von Figuren im Auge dieses hyperventilierenden Orkans öffentlicher Meinungen zusammen. Der Detektiv und die Hausgemeinschaft der Kents, aus der - wie bald klar wird - der Mörder stammen muss.In der Conclusio ihres Buches stellt Kate Summerscale fest, dass der literarische Detektiv die gesellschaftliche Funktion erfüllt, uns von der Anwesenheit des Todes zu erlösen. Er nimmt die unerträgliche Last der Ungewissheit von uns. Diesen Gefallen tun Summerscale und Whicher dem Leser des Buches nicht - am Ende steht ein starker Verdacht, dass die letztlich aufgedeckte Wahrheit nicht die ganze Wahrheit gewesen sein mochte, dass es Geheimnisse gibt, die im jenem abgeschlossenen Raum des Privaten verblieben sein könnten, dessen Veröffentlichung im Zuge der Ermittlungen die eigentlich skandalöse Tat jener Detektive von Scotland Yard war, über welche sich die englische Gesellschaft empörte.In ihrem kurzen Nachwort kehrt Summerscale noch einmal zum Opfer jenes Mordes zurück, zu dem kleinen, dreijährigen Jungen, der - so die Auslegung eines Mediziners, der die Leiche nach deren Fund untersuchte - seine Mörder gesehen und die gegen ihn geführte Klinge abzuwehren versucht haben musste. Summerscale räumt ein, dass erst die Lektüre dieses den Augenblick des Todes heraufbeschwörenden Berichts sie aus ihrem analytischen Gedankengebäude in die Wirklichkeit zurückholte: "I was reminded, with a jolt, that the boy lived. In unravelling the story of his murder, I had forgotten him."Mit ihrem Buch, das mich bei aller dokumentarischen Sorgfalt und kenntnisreicher Verknüpfung von gesellschaftlichen Phänomenen des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts insbesondere im letzten Drittel stellenweise an den Rand des Tränenvergießens gebracht hat, hat sie diesem Vergessen nachhaltig die Stirn geboten. THE SUSPICIONS OF MISTER WHICHER ist eines der ergreifendsten Bücher, die ich seit langem gelesen habe. Das darf man als eine Empfehlung werten.

L'époque victorienne. Une grande demeure où réside une famille des plus respectables. Un crime aussi mystérieux qu'abominable. Et l'inspecteur / détective qui mène l'enquête. On se croirait dans une histoire de Sherlock Holmes. Et pourtant, non, celle-ci est bien réelle - et richement documentée par un auteur soucieux de vérifier le moindre détail.Le livre est passionnant du début à la fin. L'auteur a su rendre l'atmosphère énigmatique entourant l'enquête, en montrer la progression étape par étape et capter les fluctuations de l'opinion publique. Et, sortant du décor du crime, l'évocation de la société victorienne est elle aussi très réussie.