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WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER
A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK
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‘A remarkable achievement’ – Sunday Times

‘A classic, to my mind, of the finest documentary writing’ – John le Carre

‘Absolutely riveting’ – Sarah Waters, Guardian
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On a summer’s morning in 1860, the Kent family awakes in their elegant Wiltshire home to a terrible discovery; their youngest son has been brutally murdered. When celebrated detective Jack Whicher is summoned from Scotland Yard he faces the unenviable task of identifying the killer – when the grieving family are the suspects.

The original Victorian whodunnit, the murder and its investigation provoked national hysteria at the thought of what might be festering behind the locked doors of respectable homes – scheming servants, rebellious children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing.
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‘Nothing less than a masterpiece’ – Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday
‘Terrific’ – Ian Rankin
‘A triumph’ – Observer
‘Gripping, unputdownable’ – Sunday Telegraph
‘A terrific read in the Wilkie Collins tradition’ – Susan Hill
‘The best whodunnit of the year – and it’s all true … Agatha Christie, eat your heart out’ – Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler

Publisher Review

'It is a beautiful piece, written with great lucidity and respect for the reader, and with immaculate restraint. A classic, to my mind, of the finest documentary writing.' John Le Carre 'A pacy analysis of a true British murder case from 1860, the unravelling of which involved one of the earliest Scotland Yard detectives and inspired sensation novelists such as Dickens and Wilkie Collins Absolutely riveting' Sarah Waters, Guardian 'Summerscale has constructed nothing less than a masterpiece My shelves are stacked with books about crime, but none more satisfying than this' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday 'Sparse, melancholy, beautifully written the year's most beguiling biography' Independent