The dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birth of modern detective fiction.
In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection, ironically destroying, in the process, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in the land.
At the time, the detective was a relatively new invention; there were only eight detectives in all of England and rarely were they called out of London, but this crime was so shocking, as Kate Summerscale relates in her scintillating new book, that Scotland Yard sent its best man to investigate, Inspector Jonathan Whicher.
Whicher quickly believed the unbelievable―that someone within the family was responsible for the murder of young Saville Kent. Without sufficient evidence or a confession, though, his case was circumstantial and he returned to London a broken man. Though he would be vindicated five years later, the real legacy of Jonathan Whicher lives on in fiction: the tough, quirky, knowing, and all-seeing detective that we know and love today...from the cryptic Sgt. Cuff in Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone to Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a provocative work of nonfiction that reads like a Victorian thriller, and in it Kate Summerscale has fashioned a brilliant, multilayered narrative that is as cleverly constructed as it is beautifully written.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Kate Summerscale is the former literary editor for the Daily Telegraph and author of The Queen of Whale Cay, which won the Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. Summerscale lives in London.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0802715354-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0802715354-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. new in new dj. Seller Inventory # dd164
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0802715354
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0802715354
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # FrontCover0802715354
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Brand New. 384 pages. 8.75x5.75x1.25 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # 0802715354
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0802715354
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0802715354
Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.25. Seller Inventory # Q-0802715354