Derby Book Club Reviews

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

Author: Kate Summerscale    Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing    Paperback: 384 pages

ISBN: 978-0747596486    Overall Rating:

Date: Tuesday 15 September 2009

Overview

The Galaxy Book of the Year, British Book Awards 2009 winner of the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize. Shortlisted for the Crime Writer's Association Gold Dagger.

It is midnight on 30th June 1860 and all is quiet in the Kent family's elegant house in Road, Wiltshire. The next morning, however they wake to find that their youngest son has been the victim of an unimaginably gruesome murder.

Even worse, the guilty party is surely one of their number - the house was bolted from the inside. As Jack Whicher, the most celebrated detective of his day, arrives at Road to track down the killer, the murder provokes national hysteria at the thought of what might be festering behind the closed doors of respectable middle-class homes - scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing.

This true story has all the hallmarks of a classic gripping murder mystery. A body, a detective, a country house steeped in secrets and a whole family of suspects- it is the original Victorian whodunit.

What the group thought

The group found it difficult to conclude what the style of the book was. As a book based on fact and research it was not a typical detective novel or whodunit. Nor was it in the style or the sensation novel, popular at the time of the murder, to which the author frequently referred.

At times the book had an academic style as opposed to that of a novel with its frequent references and quotes from sources including fiction writers of the era (Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins). The balance of fact and fiction was discussed and it was felt the novelist had carried out an incredible amount of research and was careful not to speculate beyond what could be corroborated by the facts she had found.

Even in the postscript the author shows absolute dedication to verifying the authenticity of photographs and information submitted to her by readers of the first edition. It was maybe this adherence to the facts that left the group feeling somewhat unsatisfied with the ending.

It seemed that there was a lot of information about the murder and the murder scene available but limited information on the many years following the murder that the book covered. It was the story started strong but then petered out.

The book moved forwards and backward in time and perhaps seemed to "bit and bob" about, providing in depth information on some topic or characters but scant information on others. The group had mixed views on how the references to fiction writers of the era impacted on the story.

In some areas it was relevant, providing the context of how sensation novels in the 1860's were fixated on the hidden scandals in country houses. In some parts the quotations seemed out of keeping with the story and seemed to serve little purpose other than showcasing how much the author had read about the murder and the time.

Most of the group guessed who the killer was and felt it was obvious. Some were expecting a twist in line with typical detective novels. There was no twist! The detective Mr Whicher was right all along but, unable to produce sufficient evidence for a conviction had to wait for the murderer to confess before being vindicated. The book charts the impact of the case on his career.

The detective's reliance on methods such as circumstantial evidence and accusing to provoke a confession made the group glad we live in the age of forensic tests and the burden of proof “beyond reasonable doubt.” Differences and parallels between the 1800's and present day were a subject of discussion.

There were obvious ways in which society has changed in terms of perceptions according to social class, sociable mobility and the role of women. One interesting element was how much the press and public influenced the perception and outcome of criminal cases even back in the 1800's.

We may have thought that glamourisation of bad girls was a feature of the tabloid and Now magazine school of journalism and that an insatiable desire to scrutinise the lives of ordinary (ish) people came from 24 hour news and the X factor. Not so! In the 1860's many random people printed and sold pamphlets containing their theories on who committed the murder. (The equivalent of the many blogs written speculating on foul play in Michael Jackson's tragic death).

The 17th century press printed many outspoken articles putting forward their suspicions, alternately hero-worshipping and vilifying all involved. The young female murder suspect received marriage proposals much like Big Brother contestants receive offers of dates with soap stars. It is reassuring to know that our society is no more voyeuristic than those of the past even if we do have more sophisticated equipment at our disposal.

One person found the book boring and too stilted to preserve to the finish. The rest of the group liked it enough to read to the end and most were glad that they had tried something different to the types of novel they usually read.

Ladies Night Out Club Reviewer: Sam Beetham