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Books : The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House: Or the Murder at Road Hill House
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Rating: 
- Absolutely engrossing
This is a retelling of the Road House murder of 1860. The Kents - an outwardly conventional and respectable middle class family - are horrified to discover that three year old Saville has disappeared from his cot. He is soon found gruesomely murdered and his body dumped in the outside privy. The local police arrive and begin a somewhat haphazard investigation. They decline to ask any questions of the family in the belief that people of their class would be too genteel to be involved in murder. Later Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher arrives from London. He soon suspects one of the Kent daughters but she is released by the court and Whicher generally castigated by all for his error.
Kate Summerscale has succeeded in writing a non-fiction book that reads like a modern detective story. Her research is obviously meticulous and she brings to life all the main characters as well as the social history of the time. Her references to Wilkie Collins, Dickens and Henry James all help to place Whicher at the heart of the developing interest in detective fiction. Even those who already know the story of the Road House murder will find this a page-turner.
But at the end we are still left with an enigma. Constance Kent - was she mad, bad or abused? We will probably never know the whole truth.
Rating:
- Padding out the story
Oh dear, what on earth were the judges thinking when they gave this book the Samuel Johnson Prize? It is a page-turner, I grant you, which is no doubt why it won the prize, and it's cleverly conceived, written in the style of a country-house murder, the genre it explores. But there have been many books on the Constance Kent case, perhaps the most famous murder in the Victorian era, and Summerscale has nothing new to say. Worse, the book is padded out with social history, elementary details that could have come directly from any one of countless history books on the shelves of Waterstones. In short, the book is not nearly as good as its many plaudits in the press and book prize judges think.
Rating:
- I absolutely disagree
This is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.
Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.
Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.
Rating: - The Emperor's New Clothes
I have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.
Rating:
- history of a murder
Simply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.
- Absolutely engrossingThis is a retelling of the Road House murder of 1860. The Kents - an outwardly conventional and respectable middle class family - are horrified to discover that three year old Saville has disappeared from his cot. He is soon found gruesomely murdered and his body dumped in the outside privy. The local police arrive and begin a somewhat haphazard investigation. They decline to ask any questions of the family in the belief that people of their class would be too genteel to be involved in murder. Later Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher arrives from London. He soon suspects one of the Kent daughters but she is released by the court and Whicher generally castigated by all for his error.
Kate Summerscale has succeeded in writing a non-fiction book that reads like a modern detective story. Her research is obviously meticulous and she brings to life all the main characters as well as the social history of the time. Her references to Wilkie Collins, Dickens and Henry James all help to place Whicher at the heart of the developing interest in detective fiction. Even those who already know the story of the Road House murder will find this a page-turner.
But at the end we are still left with an enigma. Constance Kent - was she mad, bad or abused? We will probably never know the whole truth.
Rating:
- Padding out the storyOh dear, what on earth were the judges thinking when they gave this book the Samuel Johnson Prize? It is a page-turner, I grant you, which is no doubt why it won the prize, and it's cleverly conceived, written in the style of a country-house murder, the genre it explores. But there have been many books on the Constance Kent case, perhaps the most famous murder in the Victorian era, and Summerscale has nothing new to say. Worse, the book is padded out with social history, elementary details that could have come directly from any one of countless history books on the shelves of Waterstones. In short, the book is not nearly as good as its many plaudits in the press and book prize judges think.
Rating:
- I absolutely disagreeThis is the worst book I've read for a long time. "Pacey" is not the word - in fact I have trouble staying awake. The Author frequently digresses from the main plot (which, all told would take up less than a quarter of the book) to examine in detail things like excerpts from 3 different newspaper articles saying more or less the same thing, quotes from Sigmund Freud, Whichers' previous cases (which although interesting rarely add anything to the progression of the story), and anything else which could possibly hinder the sloppy storytelling.
Then we have the fact that the story teller sees fit to remind us at every opportunity of previous stated clues - something she doubtless decided the story needed with all the frequent asides. The book honestly reads like an academic work like a thesis rather than the story it claims.
Well researched? Yes. Well written? Action packed? Pacey? Indeed not. I would avoid this book, and I feel slightly angry that I was tricked by the back cover into thinking it was something it wasn't, and buying it.
Rating:
- The Emperor's New ClothesI have to say that this book, although much touted, is not the wonder the reviewers in the UK media have made it out to be. Most of them know nothing about true crime and they have seized on this book as though it were the Holy Grail. It's dull and plodding, and suggestive of segments that I have read elsewhere. There are many books about the Constance Kent case ("Cruelly Murdered", "Saint - with Red Hands?" are two that instantly come to mind) which are a lot more informative than this book and as for Mr Whicher and Constance Kent , Dickens' letters to friends about this case is the best place for the media information of the time and a great novelist's take on the case - not this mind-numbing piece of self importance.
Rating:
- history of a murderSimply brilliant book. The fascinating storylines, quality of research and the craftmanship with which they were woven together has made this one of the best books I've read this year. This book will please both popular history buffs and crime fiction afficnados. Will definately be on the lookout for Kate Summerscales next book.