Last summer, my husband and I watched a set of programs on BritBox—not a series but separate movies each with the title “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher” and a different subtitle. When I looked at the credits, the name Kate Summerscale rang a bell, and I realized I had read her book The Wicked Boy about a Victorian true crime. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is also nonfiction, about a famous Victorian murder and the detective whose career was nearly destroyed by the case.
In June 1860, the Kent family awakened to find three-year-old Saville Kent missing. Searches of the property eventually located him under the seat of an outside privy with his throat cut. A window of the dining room was ajar.
The initial investigation was botched, with local police assuming the crime was committed by a servant or outsider, and even hiding some potential evidence. John Whicher, a top detective in the newly formed detective department, was assigned to the case after two weeks, as a result of reported bungling.
Mr. Whicher was thorough in his investigation despite lack of cooperation and even obstruction by the local officials. He concluded that Saville was murdered by his 16-year-old sister, Constance (this is not a spoiler because this information comes out fairly early in the book), but felt he didn’t have enough proof to make an arrest. However, the local magistrates pushed him into it.
It is the national reaction to the crime and Mr. Whicher’s suspicions that Summerscale concentrates on, as well as telling what happened to the principals later. This is a really interesting book, relating how Mr. Whicher was a model for early fictional detectives and how this case affected early crime fiction.
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The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Killer
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
What? Me Read? 
I remember reading this book, totally fascinating and an insight into the first creation of “detective”, the case that developed further the skillset required to resolve true crime mysteries. Great review!
Thanks!
I really enjoyed this one and The Wicked Boy. She has another one about a medium that didn’t work for me, so I’m hoping she goes back to crime for her next one.
Hmm, I’ll have to check what she has that is out, because until this book caught my attention, I forgot how much I liked The Wicked Boy.
I enjoyed this and thought it was interesting to see how the case had influenced Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.
Yes!
I remember really enjoying this at the time. There’s a play version of it coming to our area later this year — my book club was thinking of going on an outing together.
Oh, really? That would be a fun activity.