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| Author: Kate Summerscale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Category: Book
New (18) Used (5) Collectible (1) from £7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 7084
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.5
ISBN: 0747582157
EAN: 9780747582151
ASIN: 0747582157
Publication Date: April 7, 2008
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| Customer Reviews:
 A thorough examination of a murder October 28, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book, which has won prizes and many plaudits this year, is the true story of a murder that occured in Road, Somerset in the middle of the 19th Century.
This might not grab you as all that noteworthy, but it grabbed public opinion at the time and contributed to the growth of a new type of book, the murder mystery in a country house, that the likes of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie would make their own only a few years latter.
This book is interesting and if you're in any way intregued in this sort of history, you should consider reading this book. If you're not someone who typically reads factual books, however, you might find this book slighty dry and cold if I'm honest with you.
Overrated account of famous 19th century murder October 27, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Do we really need another book on the Road Hill Murder? I would imagine the facts of the case and the identity of the murderer are well known. There have been several books as well as TV documentaries and dramatisations; I recall a particularly good serial 'A Question of Guilt' which was shown on the BBC in 1980.
There is one omission in Summerscale's account of the case: whilst considering the missing article of clothing, she ignores the significance of the murder weapon itself. Considering its role in the murderer's confession and trial, a consideration of the ethics of the sanctity of the confessional would also have been useful.
Summerscale also includes an examination of the emerging role of the police detective, both in reality and in fiction. This method does mean that at times she goes off topic and discusses other cases, which have no bearing on Whicher's investigation of the Road Hill Murder.
Despite the encomia heaped on this book, both in the press and on the covers of the book, it is a competent account and nothing more.
 yawn October 15, 2008
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
While this is a painstakingly researched book, I found it to be very dull and that the murder case itself was not at all interesting. I was very disappointed after all the wonderful reviews!
 Fascinating and chilling October 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Kate Summerscale has crafted a pacy and exhaustive book on a very sinister crime that took place in 1860 in the small Wiltshire town of Road. I found it a gripping tale which had a fascinating effect on the Victorian public, and had a pronounced influence on the development of the crime novel and the creation of the fictional lone detective.
The Road story was an infanticide that shocked the public not only with the horror of the event itself, but also with the way the detective (Mr Whicher) probed into the attendant family's private life in a fashion that was repugnant to many of the day's public and press. This book, then, is not just the story of a murder but also an account of Victorian mores and prejudices, and the two got very tangled up during the investigation. Kate Summerscale unweaves the story superbly, and has written an extremely readable and perceptive book that is well deserving of the acclaim it has received.
Absolutely engrossing October 11, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a retelling of the Road House murder of 1860. The Kents - an outwardly conventional and respectable middle class family - are horrified to discover that three year old Saville has disappeared from his cot. He is soon found gruesomely murdered and his body dumped in the outside privy. The local police arrive and begin a somewhat haphazard investigation. They decline to ask any questions of the family in the belief that people of their class would be too genteel to be involved in murder. Later Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher arrives from London. He soon suspects one of the Kent daughters but she is released by the court and Whicher generally castigated by all for his error.
Kate Summerscale has succeeded in writing a non-fiction book that reads like a modern detective story. Her research is obviously meticulous and she brings to life all the main characters as well as the social history of the time. Her references to Wilkie Collins, Dickens and Henry James all help to place Whicher at the heart of the developing interest in detective fiction. Even those who already know the story of the Road House murder will find this a page-turner.
But at the end we are still left with an enigma. Constance Kent - was she mad, bad or abused? We will probably never know the whole truth.
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