Thoughts on "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher"

[Thomas Burchfield]

One book I finally picked up after months of sidelong glances was The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by British author Kate Summerscale. As I closed it the other night, I decided I was right: Another one I'd waited too long to read.

For all crime readers, fact and fiction alike, this absorbing, vivid and disturbing real-life whodunit is a must. Whicher is an account of one of the first major crimes of the modern industrial age: The cruel, vicious 1860 murder of a 3-year-old boy, Saville Kent, whose body was found at the bottom of the backyard privy of his family's Road Hill mansion. His throat had been cut.

Read more at http://www.redroom.com/blog/thomas-burc ... detectives

[casnow]

I read that one last summer when I was on vacation, and I have to say that it was very well done. The author really made the story come alive in a way that had me wondering at times if I was reading fact or fiction. The details were remarkably well done, and the follow up she gave of the characters is something that was really great.

I definitely second this one.