Saturday, June 18, 2016

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher - Kate Summerscale

I'm not going to post a photo of this book because I'm not going to review it.  I don't think I'm going to finish it.  It's a true life murder mystery, one that takes place in 1860 in England.  It's very dense on testimony and facts, some of them disputed, and I don't feel like reading this type of book now.  Maybe some other time.

But two things struck me.  I read the beginning, then I read the Afterword and the last chapter (I never do that but I wanted to know who had committed the murder without slogging through the whole thing.  I don't think it will make the book any less interesting when and if I do read the whole thing.)

What I discovered was that John Rhode (see my previous post) published a book about this murder in 1928.  Isn't it odd that I just read a book by this currently fairly obscure author and here he is again?!  Also, one of the suspects was a talented artist whose works I've seen and admired.

I'm always amazed by how interrelated things are.

4 comments:

  1. It is amazing how these things happen, almost spooky, and it happens so often to me.
    I quite enjoyed the book and it was also dramatised for TV.

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    1. I think I'd like it another time. I didn't know it had been dramatized for TV. I'll have to see if I can get that somewhere.
      Those coincidences almost make the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

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  2. Joan, another coincidence... I'm reading her newest true crime book, The Wicked Boy right now! And although the crime is very interesting I'm not enjoying the writing at all. Just like you said, bogged down with so many facts and psychological theories of the day that I have to make myself pick it up. This one is a 13 year old boy who murdered his mother in England in 1895. I will probably skim. I didn't read Mr. Whicher but saw the movie. Interesting crime but skip the book and watch the movie!

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    1. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one having trouble with the book. I agree with you completely. I'll have to look for the movie of it.

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