Becki's Reviews > The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective

This book really went beyond what I was expecting from it. Aside from re-telling the mystery of a 3 year old's murder, the author also delved into the life and thoughts of one of the first and greatest dectectives, Mr. Whicher. Since I had never heard of this detective or this murder before, it was shocking to realize how many famous books were so greatly influenced by the story. For instance, Dickens was highly interested in this case, and Lady Audley's Secret was quite heavily based upon the mystery.

Summerscale did a great job putting this story into the context of the Victorian era, and easily and interestingly described some of the details that are now lost to us, so you don't have to have an intricate knowledge of the Victorian era to enjoy this book. I felt that she did a great job investigating each character, and beyond that, was able to get "into" their heads to try and unravel exactly what occurred, and why.

I also enjoyed reading the epilogue and discovering just what happened to each character once the mystery had been solved. One of the children of the family ended up being a great scientist, publishing the first book about the great coral reef and discovering a number of things about underwater animals. I also like the author's interpretation of what happened, especially since we have much more information (and hindsight) than Whicher did at the time.