What the papers say:
'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

Author's Biography:
Kate Summerscale was born in 1965. She is the author of the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, which won a Somerset Maugham award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread biography award. She has also judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize. She lives in London with her five-year-old son.



SaraJayne (United Kingdom) (2012/09/06):
I was under the impression that this was a creative nonfiction book, but it's really a biography - of the crime (the murder at Road Hill House), rather than a person. As such, it is a bit dry at times - particularly at the very beginning and in the middle. Only a bit, though.

Kate Summerscale explores everything known about the murder, about the inhabitants of Road Hill House, and presents it all for you to make your own decisions about whodunnit; though she heavily leans towards one answer, she does present that argument well.

I especially liked the bits of history woven in - I had no idea detectives were such a young concept in the world, nor that they were so opposed by the public at their inception. I had no idea where the vocabulary of detective work and detective novels came from.

All in all, a good read, definitely recommended.



Chells (United Kingdom) (2012/12/08):
I liked this book. I am a detective fiction and movie nut, I admit, so I am biased. This book is based on a real murder that took place in England during the late 1800's and I thought it was very interesting.