The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

[ipanemagirl]

Just finished this, it was really good. Anyone else read it?

[Wheelybug]

Have been intrigued by it for a while - but haven't read it. Its out in paperback now isn't it ??

[BoffinMum]

I have read it and handed it around work. I thought it was a very interesting way of lifting the lid on Victorian puritanism and hypocrisy. I also appreciated the detailed descriptions of day to day domestic life amongst the middle/upper middle classes.

[janeite]

I've read it and passed it on to a colleague. I quite enjoyed it as a portrayal of family life in that kind of household. I also liked the Dickens/ detective genre references but overall I didn't think it lived up to the reviews as much as I'd expected it to. I also thought it was rather too long, almost as if she was determined to get EVERY bit of research in.

[ipanemagirl]

Yes it's in big format paperback. I'm a big fan of the Moonstone and the Woman In White by Wilkie Collins, very interesting to see how this murder influenced writers like Collins and Dickens and detective fiction of the future.

[ipanemagirl]

Actually Janeite, I agree with you, the book is so exciting with the murder at its centre so it loses momentum a bit as it ties up the loose ends.
But I keep finding thing with books, I don't read that many any more ( I read book reviews and newspapers more! ), the the 2nd half often doesn't live up to a good opening. I particularly found that with Atonement, great opening half, weaker second half, imo.

[Mercy]

Dh bought me this for Christmas - I loved it (on the whole - skim read a few bits)

I was interested in the history of the detective role, comparing it to today's cid.

Sorry for such a short post - have to go now

[SilentTerror]

Got it for Xmas but not read it yet.
It is a Richard and Judy choice for 2009,apparently

[BoffinMum]

I forgave her the length because of the neat tying up of loose ends. I thought it was similar to the Mrs Beeton biography. I thought it was really good to include the pictures as well.

[retiredgoth2]

...being a lazy soul I listened to this on audiobook.

Splendid.

[ipanemagirl]

retiredgoth2 (good name!) how do you listen to audio books? do you download them from itunes? I've never done that, also my small memoried ipod is so full of music and podcasts that it couldn't take a book.
I keep wishing the library had decent audiobooks but they're all on cassette in our ropey branch or they're books I don't want to hear.

[retiredgoth2]

....I used to use iTunes, until I figured out that most of their audiobooks are outsourced from here

The bonus of this site is that you build up an online 'library', and can download audiobooks multiple times if you wish, and usually burn one DVD copy if you like.

...I have a subscription, £15 a month for any two audiobooks (they sent me an iPod shuffle as an inducement when I joined. Usually I download one book a month for me, and one for my urchins.

You don't have to store them all on your iPod! Just switch stuff around so that you only have one at a time, the longer titles come in two parts, anyway....

(sorry for hijack)

[newpup]

I enjoyed this book. I loved the references to Dickens and Collins. I was a little disapointed with the tying up of ends too and it did lose a bit of the momentum towards the end of the second half.

Interesting reflection of how the police and inspectors, in particular were viewed at the time. How hideaus the upper middle classes must have felt being interegated by a working class man about their private family affairs.

It was really interesting!

[lalalonglegs]

I was gripped by it. She wrote another book, The Queen of Whale Cay, which was a biography but had the same spare style and meticulous research. Plus, I used to work with her and she always seemed thoroughly nice woman.

[petesneat]

NO. I so wanted to like it. I liked the beginning but the middle was so dull. I wouldn't reccomend.

[petesneat]

My fave books atm were:
The tenderness of wolves
Englands mistress
Dragon tattoo - that was the best.

[LurkerOfTheUniverse]

It was ok, did skip whole chapters which is never a good sign

[petesneat]

yes me too

[janeite]

Oh dear! At least I read it all! I just got a bit twitchy towards the end, thinking "finish, already, will you?"!

I hated "The Tenderness Of Wolves".

[ipanemagirl]

but did anyone else find it scary because it was true? I startedreading it at inlaws in a small village in the countryside and had to stop reading it sometimes I'd managed to scare myself so much.
I've never read TheTurn Of The Screw (spposed to be inspired a bit by this murder) because it just sounds too scary.
Like the Nicole Kidman film 'The Others' could barely watch that. And the Spanish film "The Orphanage' I had to switch off after 30 mins was just terrified!
retiredgoth2 you sound technocapable! I wd hv to get my head round doing that!

[lalalonglegs]

I'm probably not as nervous as you, Ipanema, but I found it desperately creepy - as many reviewers pointed out, it was the ultimate whodunnit: a limited number of people who could have done it, all of whom knew the boy and apparently bore him no ill will. It was that idea of a revenge against the parents who had committed no obvious crime that was so chilling.

[ipanemagirl]

there also didn't seem to be enough about what the mother of the murdered child thought. Looking at all the evidence, you'd have thought she would have suspected the stepdaughter immediately.

[Jenbot]

I thought it was an interesting insight to the times, how detectives started out, how the press dealt with murders, how the family dealt with the murder...

[InLoveWithSweeneyTodd]

i read "the suspicions..." last year, I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend. It is true it loses momentum in some places, but definitely one of my best reads of the last 6 months.

[Pristina]

I'm half way through this and loving it at the moment. It is very detailed but I haven't found it boring at all.

[queenceleste]

I really enjoyed it too, it loses its way a bit in the last third but most of it is excellent