Books we like ... and books we're not too fussed about
Kate Summerscale
Bloomsbury 2008
In this meticulously researched book Kate Summerscale investigates the murder of a small boy in Wiltshire in 1860 - the Road Hill House murder – and the subsequent investigation of the case by Jack Whicher, a Scotland Yard detective. Along the way, as well as presenting her own (very convincing) theory about the identity of the killer, she tells us much about conditions in Victorian London, the development of the police force and of the plain-clothes detective, the detective fiction genre, and even the flora and fauna of Australia. At the start, certainly, it is very involving, and you never lose admiration for the huge task she has undertaken. However, in the end I fear this book promises more than it delivers. The case isn’t interesting enough to support this exhaustive investigation, and some of the detail – for example of the development of the crinoline - seems more of a distraction than anything. I enjoyed this book, and mostly found it interesting, but for me it’s not quite good as the prizes and the rave reviews it has attracted might suggest. I found Arthur and George, Julian Barnes’ fictionalised re-creation of another Victorian crime, much more effective.
9th November 2008
http://www.bloomsbury.com/Authors/details.aspx?tpid=2923
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