The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
Voltaire
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
August 18, 2008
I noticed this title on someone else’s reading list and immediately recognized the name of the detective in my favorite murder case (if I can acceptibly have such a thing). The Kent murder case of 1860 is one of the most haunting of all time—weirdly so, since it was fully closed with a confession from the killer. (It’s impossible not to have doubts about that confession, though, since the killer remained inscrutable in so many aspects.) Knowing the case’s scandalous resolution, I did feel a bit like rushing through the first part of the book, but that isn’t the author’s fault; Summerscale writes a taut narrative that lays out all the vital clues and keeps informed readers interested while not giving away the ending to those readers new to the case. It also made me want to read The Moonstone again; I read the book long before I read about this case, and it would be nice to go back and compare the two, since the former is so heavily inspired by the latter. (A random observation which I doubt I could have missed making years ago, but which just sprang newly to my mind: while reading about The Moonstone’s rose-loving Scotland Yard detective Sergeant Cuff, I suddenly thought of the rose-loving Scotland Yard inspector who occasionally appears in the Amelia Peabody mystery series. I checked my copy of The Deeds of the Disturber, and sure enough, his name is Cuff. Nice one, Elizabeth Peters.)
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