In March we will read &ldquo\;The Suspicio ns of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective&rdquo\; by Kate Summerscale
\nFrom Amazon
\nThe dramatic story of the real-life murder that inspired the birt h of modern detective fiction.
\nIn June of 1860 three-year-old Savi lle 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 dete ction\, ironically destroying\, in the process\, the career of perhaps the greatest detective in the land.
\nAt the time\, the detective was a relatively new invention\; there were only eight detectives in all of Eng land and rarely were they called out of London\, but this crime was so sho cking\, as Kate Summerscale relates in her scintillating new book\, that S cotland Yard sent its best man to investigate\, Inspector Jonathan Whicher .
\nWhicher quickly believed the unbelievable―that someone wi thin the family was responsible for the murder of young Saville Kent. With out sufficient evidence or a confession\, though\, his case was circumstan tial 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 fictio n: the tough\, quirky\, knowing\, and all-seeing detective that we know an d love today&hellip\; from the cryptic Sgt. Cuff in Wilkie Collins's \ ;The Moonstone \;to Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade.
\nThe Suspicions of Mr. Whicher \;is a provocative work of nonfict ion that reads like a Victorian thriller\, and in it Kate Summerscale has fashioned a brilliant\, multilayered narrative that is as cleverly constru cted as it is beautifully written.
\n\nA great way to discove r and discuss new and classic true crime writing&mdash\;from murder\, to r obbery\, heists and arson&mdash\;we touch on every aspect of humanity's da rker instincts.
\n\nWe meet on the third Monday of ev ery month starting in January. View and print the list of books and check out WPPL's Book Discussion page for more book and movie clubs!
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