The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder And The Undoing Of A Great Victorian Detective

A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective

Plot

In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy, his throat viciously cut. The suspicion that fell upon the grieving family and their servants horrified the public; the thought of what might go on behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class Victorian homes -- scheming governesses, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, and loathing -- aroused both fear and excitement across the country. Scotland Yard sent its best man -- Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher -- to investigate the murder at Road Hill. The ideal Victorian detective, Whicher could turn brutal crimes into intellectual puzzles and find order in chaos, and ultimately inspired characters in fiction such as Sgt. Cuff in Wilkie Collins' "The Moonshine". In this case, Whicher quickly believed the unbelievable -- that someone within the family was responsible for the murder. Without sufficient evidence or a confession, however, his case was circumstantial, and by the time he returned to London he was the object of national scorn. Exploring the origins of our fascination with murder mysteries with imagination and verve -- and including a new postscript by the author with new revelations about the case and two previously unknown photographs of Jonathan Whicher -- "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" unfolds like a Victorian crime novel, only every detail is true. About the Author____________________ Kate Summerscale is the former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph and the author of "The Queen of Whale Cay", which won the Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. She lives in London.