The Suspicions of Mr Whicher is the true and disturbing tale of a well off Victorian family and murder in their midst. The book is really about the reaction to the shocking and unexplained murder at Road Hill House – from the general public and press to the police force, these reaction speak volumes about the class divide and the menace lurking under the outward respectability of this household and polite society in general. That the murderer of the smallest child in the Kent family was, according to the detectives, clearly not likely to be one of the well-to-do house but one of the manservants or a stranger says a lot about contemporary prejudices, and because of these, crucial evidence was ignored or missed.

At the outset this book seems like a classic Cluedo-style whodunnit, but wanders breezily into territory about the media of the time, class, and respectability. The case became something of a media fad – the press demonised those involved, not least the understated detective Mr Whicher, while the public clamored for information and apparently the whole country had an opinion on who was responsible. All things considered, perhaps it’s not surprising that the book and its subject matter feel contemporary.

The case happened before the rise of the detective in our imaginations and respect, and Mr Whicher is the archetype for the logical puzzles of Sherlock Holmes. All along, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher were correct, although never completely proved – one hopes this book is a small vindication for his memory.

The twists of the story and the continued lives of all those involved - investigators, victims and perpetrators alike – are endlessly fascinating. The tale is told pretty much in order of events and evokes a society coming to grips with a newly powerful media, and dealing with the social changes that had come about with the Industrial Revolution. The book grabs the reader and takes them right the way through the twists and turns of the trial. However Summerscale saves the big punches until the final page of the epilogue.

This is a great book. It has the whodunnit elements of an Agatha Christie, the style of a Conan Doyle, the twists and turns of a Jack Higgins, the descriptions of Peter Ackroyd. That it is a true story makes it all the more powerful.

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