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:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 155
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 14 more reviews...
 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.
Superb June 26, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is the true story of a murder that took place at Road Hill House in the English countryside. One night, at the end of June, 1860, three-year-old Saville Kent was found dead in the privy of his family's estate, his neck severed. A week later, Detective Jack Whicher, of Scotland Yard, arrived on the scene, and promptly determined that Saville's half sister Constance, age 16, committed the horrible crime. What followed was a ghastly revealing of one family's secrets in an era when the family and its home was considered to be sacrosanct.
Summerscale writes as though all this is fiction, and walks us right through the crime, from the time the Kents went to bed on that June evening up through a dramatic trial five years later and beyond. There were a number of brutal murders that took place around the time that London began to have its own specialized detective force, and these detectives were the inspiration for many fictional detectives, Inspector Bucket of Bleak Houseand Sergeant Cuff of The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics), to name just two. Murders such as these were inspiration for much of the sensationalist fiction that was written in the 1850s and `60s; Ellen Wood and Mary Elizabeth Braddon were just two of the many authors who wrote this kind of "lowbrow" literature.
These murders were especially shocking to mid-Victorian values; as Summerscale points out many times in the course of her narrative, the home was sacred, and any invasion of that privacy was frowned upon far more than it would be today. What was remarkable about the Kents was the fact that their house did not resemble those of other Victorians, with the family living on the lower floors and the servants above. Rather, the servants slept near to the family, with the children of Samuel Kent's first marriage living on the third floor. The fact that Mary Ann, Elizabeth, William, and Constance Kent were treated as inferiors played a large part in the murder investigation, as did a missing nightgown that might have been bloodstained.
The Road Hill House murder shares an eerie resemblance to Jane Eyre, which incidentally had been published the year before: both situations involved mad wives and governesses. Summerscale paints her hard-boiled detective Whicher as determined to get to the truth, no matter the cost to his reputation, and the Kent family one with many secrets to hide. Constance, the accused, is portrayed in a sympathetic light, as is Elizabeth Gough, the governess. In all, this was an absolutely superb book--it reads almost like The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)which, incidentally, was running in installments at this time. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a must read for lovers of the Victorian period. Also try: Lady Audley's Secret, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
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