No problem we can read both I'm sure!

You don't have to i will read it just because it sound like a good story but still Mr. whicher was my first choice

I've started Mr. Whicher, and am enjoying the matter-of-fact manner of it's layout. Even though it is a true story, it is not told in a gruesome manner, and does not 'delight' in or dwell on the gory aspects. I'm only on page 25, but it's moving quite well.

The matter of fact tone continues [page 87], and the history of the detectives is explored, which is most helpful in understanding how they think. They are giving the origin of all the different words used, IOW, the vernacular, much of which persists to this day.

So, it's a history, it's a mystery, and character analysis. Perfect!

Coming down to the ending, p.247/304, and I do find I am skimming a bit, but all in all this is a most interesting case study. I love the way Summerscale has entwined Dickens and Wilkie Collins into the scene as they were writing at the time, and it seems many a story of the time was based, one way or the other, on this case.

Still waiting for my copy

Ahh well, Durga, it'll come.

I finished this afternoon, and have to give it a 4/5 rating, only not a 5/5 on account of some of the repetition that made me skip on some pages about 3/4ths of the way through.
Will hold off on comments till y'all are finished.

I'm working my way through it nicely. I'm still getting over the shock of a small four year old boy being the murder subject.

Right now where were we?....

When I first picked up this book I did so in trepidation. Crime novels are not my forte, and certainly not the first line of genre I would gravitate to in any book store. However, on seeing this one I was unusually pulled towards it for further glancement or at least a read of the blurb on the back of the book.

I remember thinking "Ooh.... actually that doesn't sound too bad at all" unusual for me as I have mentioned. I thought about it for a week or two, deliberated mentioning it as a suggestion for the book club and eventually decided it was a good idea. I would broaded my horizon's give it my best shot and opened myself to be proved very wrong.

I wasn't.

When I opened the book I was slightly put off by the prologues at the beginning. I love nothing more than a book I can jump straight into. One that grabs me from the instance and one that I am eager not to put down or one I can't wait to get back to if I do put it down.
having said that..... once past the prologues and the chapters have begun at last, I found I was actually enjoying both myself and the book. then I felt horribly guilty. A very young little boy had just been murdered and I was enjoying reading about it.

Anyway, I had pretty much made up my mind it was the mother who had committed this dreadful of all crimes, and that she's done it by drugging the nanny so she didn't wake at all whilst she gently took her son to do whatever...

What I found as I read on was how Summerscale writes in a narrative voice almost like she was reading a novel to us rather than us reading the novel. Whilst other's have revied the book complementing on how the old fashioned props and dialogues were totally delightful and helped to keep ones attention, to me I got bored of them I'm sad to say.

Inspector Whicher's failure to bring who he suspects is the culprit to trial left me gritting my teeth with frustration at times, and I too found myself skipping pages just wanting to get to the interesting bits where the person concerned was caught. ( I have not mentioned names as I know Durga has not yet read the book and Marc has not yet finished it, but will do so in a day or two )


The author points out that a typical country house murder in good old victorian England is a slur on how we 'English' desire everything to be 'proper' How society expected it to be and how these sorts of things only ever happen in the slums where the commoners live.
So, I guess the twist at the end comes as a lovely surprise and the disgraced suspect is placed firmly back in their proper and correct society position. Was it an attack on moral hypocracy? Perhaps.

Did I enjoy the book? Oh yes!! would I read more? Oh yes!! have I changed my mind about crime novels? somewhat yes. Yes I have!

I would give the book 7/10 and yes, I would recommend it to anyone. Even those like me who hate crime.

There were bits that I skimmed about three-quarters of the way through. But it grabbed my attention again fairly rapidly. I think the most fascinating aspects for me were the tie-ins to Wilkie Collins and Dickens. Their ruminations on the crime, and it's perpetrator were most interesting, and insightful. I was interested to learn about the historicity of the art of detecting. Whicher was among the first detectives, and the manner they lived and worked was something I knew very little of prior to reading this book.
I have to say I was not surprised at the identity of the murderer/s and it's just a shame that there was not a complete reprisal. Considering that there were no modern crime-solving scientific methods to work with, Whicher's conclusions were certainly on the mark. He knew, he just couldn't prove it. I would love to know more about him and the rest of his life.

I debated buying this book for quite a while too Issi, and finally came down on the positive side. I don't usually like "true crime" novels, they are mostly too graphic, too overwrought for my taste. I thought Summerscale did a fine job of imparting just what the crime was, without all the tabloid aspects. She was never too gruesome or bloodthirsty. She hit the mark.

i still didn'tgetmy copy. Thank God i didn't pay in advance. If i will not get it before leaving Poland i will post my impressions a bit later

Katherine, the historical part is what I'm used to seeing on tv drama's and documentaries here in the UK. They kinda portray what happened, why it happened, how it happened and what could ahve prevented it whilst all the time going into the history of why people still make the same mistakes over centuries, why people never learn and why they still think they can get away with it. I'm wondering if all the information given on these so called 'entertainment' programmes is what over complicates them and puts me off watching most of them. Maybe, for me, that's what's at the root of me not linking as a rule this genre of books too? I'm not sure.
I also agree on the mostly too graphic parts that I don't like. Surprising again as I do like a lot of horror fiction too, and most fo the novels I read, although they are not criminal novels they do contain an awful lot of graphics regarding the times and lives and sometimes murders of people in them.

I also think it's a complete shame that living in the times when the book was written he could not prove who committed the murder, and so they were no law abiding reprisals. Quite frustrating for both the reader and Wincher. The book certainly hit a mark with me, one I will remember as being the crime novel that changed my mind and opened me up to other crime novels in the future! I am seriously pleased I read it!

durga, don't worry if your copy hasn't arrived, the thread will remain open for you to add any comments for at least the next 6 months or more.

I think I am more open to reading True Crime books now as well, although they still won't be my first line of reading by any means. I guess the reason you don't mind horror fiction would be because you know it isn't real, real people didn't do those particular things, it's all in the author's imagination.
I still don't care for horror, mostly because I figure if someone can think of it and write it down, it's entirely possible to have really happened to someone, sometime. I do like a good suspense story though.

I think in the end it was known beyond too much of a shadow of a doubt who was responsible for the murder in this book though. And really it makes me mad that all did not receive their comeuppance. IMO, one was gullible and the other took advantage of that gullibility. The one did finally do jail time though. I don't want to be more explicit on account of Durga not having read it yet.

Yeah that's why I've been a little vague too Katherine. Not wanting to spoil it for Durga and also a bit of added intrigue for anyone looking in!
I guess in that sense she was very true to real life where people often go on with their lives in complete knowledge that they have not paid the price for their deeds. I am a great believer in karma though and to each their own end..........Not that it's much comfort for the family of the deceased. I guess sometimes there is no rhyme and reason why people do things or go seemingly unpunished.