The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher recounts a real-life murder mystery that gripped Victorian England. A four-year-old boy missing from his bed, found flung into the cesspool beneath the outdoor water closet. The case gripped the public imagination as the murderer was not found for years, despite the suspicions of Detective Whicher, which fell firmly on one member of the family. Without proof, though, he could not press charges and was derided by the public, partly for being a bit too invasive in his investigations and partly for not being able to bring closure to a titillated public.

Kate Summerscale shows how this case lent many elements to the burgeoning field of detective fiction – Edgar Allan Poe had already introduced Dupin, Sherlock Holmes was several years into the future. The idea of the contained mystery, where all the clues and suspects are to be found within a single house, can be traced back to the case. The fallible detective may also be found here, and in some ways the case may have engendered the infallible detective – the one the public wished for. At the same time, using letters that have emerged long past Whicher’s time, she shows pretty convincingly who the murderer or murderers must have been.

This isn’t really a book where you can “solve along with the detective” – an impression I got from the blurb. I wouldn’t call it a really fantastic book. At the same time I must admit that I really, really wanted to know who the culprit(s) was/were – so Summerscale did a good job there.