#kate summerscale

[claudia1829things]

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" (2013) Review

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" (2013) Review

Over a decade ago, the ITV network aired a television adaptation of Kate Summerscale's 2008 true life crime book, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House", starring Paddy Considine. The movie proved to be such a success that producer Mark Redhead had followed up with three other television productions featuring the main character, Jack Whicher. The first of these sequels was 2013's "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE".

The 2013 television movie began with Jack Whicher coming to the aid of a wealthy middle-age woman, when a young thief snatches her purse inside a London pub in London. After retrieving her purse, Whicher discovers that the woman, Susan Spencer, is searching for her missing niece, a 16 year-old girl named Mary Drew. Miss Spencer learns of Whicher's old position as a police detective and hires him to find the missing girl. Whicher eventually discovers Mary's brutally murdered body inside the police morgue. Both eventually learn that before her death, Mary had given birth to a child and someone had stolen a family heirloom from her. Miss Spencer hires Whicher to act as her private consultant and find Mary's killer.

When I first saw "THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE", I had assumed the story began sometime after the events of 2011's "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HOUSE HILL". It took a rewatch of this second television movie for me to realize that it was set during the events of the 2011 movie - sometime between the four or five years between Mr. Whicher's failure to get the killer prosecuted for murder and the latter's eventual confession. I was able to ascertain this conclusion, due to the hostile behavior of Police Commissioner Richard Mayne toward Whicher and the one of the supporting character's comments. This setting also explained Whicher's occasional doubts regarding his skills as a detective. Now whether the other two Whicher television movies that followed were also set during this period is a matter I will eventually discover.

Unlike "THE MURDER AT ROAD HOUSE HILL", "THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" proved to be a genuine "whodunnit" story. This particular case was not some true crime narrative. And Whicher did not discover the antagonist's identity until the finale act. I am not saying that this particular difference made the 2013 television movie an improvement over the first one. But in a way, it felt a little refreshing to view a murder mystery/period drama, instead of a mere true life case set in the far past. "THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" started as an investigation into the disappearance of a well-born adolescent managed to transform into a lot more. Like "THE MURDER AT ROAD HOUSE HILL", this story also proved to be a family drama beset with murder, betrayal and corruption. But unlike the 2011 movie, greed also play a major role in "THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE". I thought screenwriter Neil McKay and director Christopher Menaul handled the movie's narrative very well, with a minor exception or two. I also admired how McKay used the unresolved events of THE MURDER AT ROAD HOUSE HILL" to not only provide the Whicher character as an emotional obstacle for him to overcome, but also an excuse to place him in the dangerous situation that he found himself in the movie's final act.

I do have a few complaints about the plot for "THE MURDER IN ANGEL LANE". And it centers around a small group of quibbles regarding the television movie's final act. Whicher's investigation led him to a third visit at an insane asylum, where he found himself incarcerated as a patient. A part of me felt relieved that this particular scenario lasted less than five minutes. However, another part of me found this sequence rushed and contrived for it did not take Whicher long to receive help in making his escape. Following on the heels of the asylum sequence, Whicher finally confronted the murderer. But he did so alone . . . and without contacting his old friend, Chief Inspector Adolphus "Dolly" Williamson or other members of the Metropolitan Police. I understand why Neil McKay had written the confrontation scene this way. I simply found it implausible and wish he could have created another way to close the case.

I certainly had no complaints about the movie's production values. David Roger returned to the "MR. WHICHER" series to serve as production designer. As he did for "THE MURDER AT ROAD HOUSE HILL", Roger managed to re-create the look and style of early 1860s Britain with the additional work of Paul Ghirardani's art direction and the set decorations of Jo Kornstein, who had also worked on the "ROAD HOUSE HILL" production. Only in this production, his vision extended to the streets of London. Tim Palmer served as the film's cinematographer. I thought he did a solid job, but his work did not exactly blow my mind. Lucinda Wright also returned to serve as the movie's costume designer. As she did for the 2011 television movie, her work for "THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" perfectly recaptured the early-to-mid 1860s without being either shoddy or over-the-top.

Paddy Considine returned to reprise his role as Jack Whicher. As he had done in the first movie, the actor did an excellent job of quietly capturing the character's reserve nature, intelligence and skill for criminal investigation. However, Considine managed to add an extra touch of poignancy, as he project Whicher's occasional bouts of insecurity in the wake over the Road House Hill case and his minor failures during his investigation of this case. Both William Beck and Tim Piggott-Smith reprised their roles as "Dolly" Williamson and Commissioner Mayne from from the first film. Like Considine, both actors gave first-rate performances. And both added extra touches to their performances - especially in their characters' attitudes toward Whicher - in the wake of the Road House Hill debacle. Olivia Colman provided the movie's emotional center as the well-born Susan Spencer, who hired Whicher to first, find her niece Mary Drew and later, find the latter's killer. She and Considine, who had co-starred in the 2007 comedy, "HOT FUZZ", worked very well together. Shaun Dingwall gave a very subtle performance as Inspector George Lock, the main investigator of Mary's murder and the only one willing to give him a chance in helping the police. The television movie also featured solid performances from Mark Bazeley, Alistair Petrie, Billy Postlewaite, Angela Terence, Justine Mitchell, Sean Baker, Sam Barnard, Christopher Harper and Paul Longely.

Of the four "MR. WHICHER" television movies, I must admit that "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER ON ANGEL LANE" is my least favorite. I believe the last fifteen to twenty minutes had been marred by some contrived writing that I believe had rushed the narrative's pacing. However, I still believe it was a first-rate production in which screenwriter Neil McKay had created an intriguing whodunnit involving a major family feud, betrayal and greed. And director Christopher Menaul, along with a talented cast led by Paddy Considine had skillfully conveyed McKay's story to the screen.

[bookjotter6865]

Winding Up the Week #399

An end of week recap “Fiction is the lie through which we tell the truth.” – Albert Camus This is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the nightstand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings. CHATTERBOOKS >> If you are planning a reading…

[nanashi-reads23]

Usually in an unsolved murder case the public feared that the killer might strike again. Here, though, the fear was that he or she could be duplicated in any home. The case undermined the very idea that a locked house-hold was safe. Until it was solved, an English mother would sleep uneasily, haunted with the idea that her house harboured a child-killer - it could be her husband, her nanny, her daughter.

Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Or the Murder at Road Hill House

[dipnotski]

Kate Summerscale – Fobiler ve Maniler Kitabı (2023)

Homofobi gibi bildiğimiz fobilerden insanı şaşırtan yumurta, saç, sessizlik korkularına, hatta her şeyden (pantofobi) korkmaya dek uzanan çok sayıda fobi mevcut. Anlamlandıramadığımız mani ve fobilerimizin arkasında ne yatıyor? Bizi pençesine almış bu takıntılardan kurtulmanın bir yolu yok mudur? Peki, dünyada bunları bir tek biz mi yaşıyoruz? Kate Summerscale, ‘Fobiler ve Maniler Kitabı: A’dan…

[akiraofthefour]

If she rid herself of all her anxieties and nervous habits, she wondered if there would be anything of her left.

Kate Summerscale, The Book of Phobias & Manias

[elwayken]

I’ve been reading through The book of phobias and manias, a history is obsession by Kate Summerscale and I couldn’t help but transfer that over to Linked Universe.

So, here’s a list of the phobias I think the boys would have 👍

Time: Arachnophobia (spiders)

Twilight: Pyrophobia (fire)

Wild: Athazaphobia (forgetting)

Wind: Ornithophobia (birds)

Legend: Hypnophobia (sleep)

Hyrule: Claustrophobia (tight spaces)

Four: Monophobia (solitude)

Warriors: Proditiophobia (betrayal)

Sky: Hippophobia (horses)

[jawbonejoe]

2024 Reading Round Up

A lot of good books this year! Technically broke my record from last year because I read a pulp not listed, an NA book not listed and it should be noted I read the first half of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and then had to pause it. So technically 22.5 altogether for the year.

Stand outs of the year are in bold.

The Haunting of Alma Feilding by Kate Summerscale. A very interesting dive into the case of a purported medium. While Summerscale comes off as too credulous at times the conclusion of the piece dispels that tone and the research into the human drama of this ‘haunting’ is a terrific read.

The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by Harvey C. Mansfield. A classic and a standard. This was my first read through and while it was interesting I came away knowing I hadn’t been able to digest it as I had not discussed it with fellow readers. The supplementary letters from Machiavelli gave a dimension to him that was very touching.

A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. I can’t speak to all of my influences’ influences but as a Tom Waits lover I figured I’d give Ferlinghetti a try. He was alright. I don’t read a lot of poetry so it was a case of sitting there going ‘is this good or bad? Am I stupid or is he?’

First, Become Ashes by K M Szpara. A sexy romp by a local Bmore writer. Reading the voice of another queer writer was interesting, especially since this book makes it clear we have a few of the same cultural reference points.

The Black Count by Tom Reiss. A biography of the half-Haitian Revolutionary French General Alex Dumas, father of novelist Alexandre Dumas and widely believed to be the real life template for his son’s character The Count of Monte Cristo. While not a lot of the man’s personality comes through the page (due in part to a lack of access to his letters and other first person accounts) this book splendidly constructs the world Dumas grew up in, the revolutionary nation he served, and the caprice of one Napoleon Bonaparte whose disdain and poor leadership ultimately sent General Dumas into a fatal decline. Highly recommend this for history buffs who want to learn more about race in the 1700’s!

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. First and only Pratchett I’ve read! Very fun and buoyant, I would recommend this as a starting point for anyone who wants to get into Uncle Terry’s work.

1491 by Charles C. Mann. Indisputably my pick for Nonfiction of the Year. A digest of thousands of years of history in the Western Hemisphere, detailing what we’ve learned about live in the Americas pre-Columbus. The book endeavors to center the pre-Columbian ages but also gives a number of illuminating accounts about post-Columbian life in the Western Hemisphere. Absolutely incredible. If you care at all about history this is a must read, it will challenge or altogether evaporate the misinformation still taught about Native American history and it tells a powerful story of how fragile the lives of whole empires can be.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. And disputably the Fiction of the Year! I had heard about this book and delayed in reading it until I cracked it on vacation. As of the first sentence I was locked in. This book MAKES you read it. Its rapid pace, lyrical prose and the deep respect and love for the ancient epics make it an incredible read. Is this Trojan War fanfic? Yes. Is it its own masterwork? Absolutely. It tells the story of Achilles from the perspective of Patroclus, the human who loves him. The parts of Troy that are updated for the modern audience all serve to breathe new life into the ancient story. Highly, highly recommend!

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristen Kobes Du Mez. A tough read. Some months after reading someone mentioned ‘oh, this must’ve been someone’s dissertation.’ which I’m inclined to agree with here. This book asks ‘how did 80% of white evangelicals end up voting for Trump in 2016?’ and details how shifting social tides spurred evangelicals further and further right. It answers this question by detailing the theological and cultural waters of the evangelical space from the 1920’s to 2016, including such troubling things as the evangelical and Catholic push against women’s lib, the privatizing of schools to avoid federal desegregation and the hollowing out of the Southern Baptist Church to make it a biblical literalist arm of the larger American Protestant and evangelical movement. The author focuses on the theological disrespect of women more than anything, a drum that should beat but undercuts similar hatred based on race as well. If you want to be that picture of Rust Cohle smoking a cigarette read this book.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt. A novel about a girl coming of age in the 80’s whose uncle dies of AIDS. She struggles with the grief and love she feels for him and his boyfriend, who is estranged from their family but becomes a ballast for her and her sister as they grieve. If I’d read this book as a young sprog I know it would’ve reshaped my brain.

The Art Thief, by Mark Finkel. The true story of a couple who stole BILLIONS in paintings, statuary, weaponry and other art objects from the 90’s to the 10’s. And I know what you’re thinking ‘oh, but Helen you love thieves!’ I do but the damage and destruction caused and the loss of cultural icons that came from these crimes is truly unconscionable. Very fun read that’ll make you want to steal reproducible objects even more.

When Darkness Loves Us, by Elizabeth Engstrom. WOOO BOY. A TERRIFYING short story that will sit with you ever after. The companion story in this collection is always wonderful but the horror and blackness of When Darkness is the stand out of the two.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. Somehow I’d gotten this far as a turn of the century fag without reading Wilde. No longer! A great read, very enriching and while Wilde’s voice is a little pithy for my tastes (Pratchett too) it is undeniably a terrific story. Looking forward to reading the original magazine edition, recommended to me as a closer version of what Wilde always intended the story to be.

Vision of Heaven and Hell Before Dante, by Eileen Gardiner. Research for my DnD game set in Hell. I’ve yet to read the Inferno but this was a great way to get a sense of how the early modern period viewed Hell and its various explorers.

‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. Very fun romp, the only King I’ve read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The schmoe parts of him are clearly heard in his writing but in no way detract from the book. That post about him looking like a cartoon rat seem very true after reading this book, not in a bad way.

Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh. Interesting read I picked up, telling a fictitious version of the real life mass ergot poisoning in the French town of Pont-Saint-Esprit. A baker’s wife struggles with her sexless marriage and her attraction to a socialite couple who move into town just before the town descends into madness. Interesting, glad I read it, still not sure quite what I think of it.

Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel: The Gangster, The Flamingo and The Making of Modern Las Vegas by Larry Gragg. A somehow spellbindingly boring biography of this famously flash mobster. Also read for research and while I did learn a bit this book is now mostly a bibliography I use to find more interesting books about the same people.

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Polland. A close close close! runner up for Best Nonfiction. This book investigates the science of psychedelic medicine, starting with LSD’s original distillation in the 30’s up to new psychedelic therapy in the 10’s. A wonderful book, highly interesting, personal and full of enlightening information. Highly recommend!

The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler with editing and annotations by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson and Anthony Dean Rizzuto. The return of the old favorite. I just love Chandler and the BS, y’all know this. Recommend this for second time readers and those who want to know more about the context of LA in the 30s and Chandler and his influences. For first time readers I still recommend just grabbing a regular paperback and letting the story read itself to you.

[allthewwworstintentions]

i loveeeee working at the fucking libraryyyy😭😭‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️ so much interesting stuff comes through returns. was flipping through this book [The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Summerscale] looking for damage and the second picture fully stopped me like who is this fine ass butch o_o. was having such a bad day but getting to skim this biography preserving early twentieth century lesbian history put a smile on my face <3

[ubu507]

Intense observation, close physical checks, even suspicion could feel like desire.

-- Kate Summerscale

[gaslightgallows]

2024 TBR Pile of Good Intentions

(crossposted to Patreon)

This year’s TBR pile looks very much like last year’s (hence the reused banner image) but last year was also a shitshow so I’m giving myself a do-over. Although looking back, I did actually manage to read two (2) of the books on last year’s list! I even wrote about How to Live Like a Monk for my patrons! The other one was Mexican Gothic… Y’know, I should really write about Mexican Gothic…

Lion’s Paw Reads: (aka books I’m planning to do patron content about)

Orlando, by Virginia Woolf

A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts, by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes

The Haunting of Alma Fielding, by Kate Summerscale

The Octagon House: A Home for All, by Orson Squire Fowler

Other Reads (Fiction):

Our Wives Under the Sea, by Julia Armfield

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, by Susana Clarke

Radiance, by Catherynne M. Valente

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsin Muir

Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke

The City We Became, by N.K. Jemison

Nothing but Blackened Teeth, by Cassandra Khaw

The Story of Silence, Alex Myers

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers

Viriconium, by M. John Harrison

Queer Little Nightmares: An Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry, Edited by David Ly & Daniel Zomparelli

What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher *I actually finished this last week!

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance, by George MacDonald

Other Reads (Non-Fiction):

City of Sin, by Catherine Arnold

The Mutual Admiration Society, by Mo Moulton

Monster, She Wrote, by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson

The Gilded Edge, by Catherine Prendergast

Dickensland, by Lee Jackson

I might also do posts on some of these other books, provided I get to/through them. If you’re at all interested in my thoughts on this assemblage of horror, fantasy, scifi, and very niche historical non-fiction, I hope you’ll consider subscribing and telling me what else I should be reading!

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log, pt 10

A push to read more in my last week of summer vacation led to this; a bunch of fairly short books read in quick succession.

46. Librorum Ridiculorum by Brian Lake. This is a short, cute book of other books, those with weird titles and concepts. Some of them are examples of nominative determinism, like Mathematics for Engineers by Raymond Dull and Sewage Disposal From Isolated Buildings by Gerard Flood. Others are books with titles which have become suggestive over years of linguistic drift, like Drummer Dick’s Discharge or Stormcock in Trouble. If you like dick jokes, you’ll like this book. If you would like more dick jokes for your dollar, though, I suggest Bizarre Books by the same author, of which this is basically a hardcover, color excerpt from.

47. The Doomsday Book by Marshall Brain. This is the How Stuff Works guy, btw. This book, well, doesn’t work. It’s a list of catastrophes that could theoretically fall upon a city, country or planet, a look at the science behind them, and proposed solutions. The book starts strong, with a discussion of how the collapse of the Fort Peck Lake dam could lead to a chain reaction that would flood several major US cities and basically destroy the infrastructure of the American Midwest. And then immediately bungles it with a hysterical chapter about drone warfare, hysterical primarily in its gross overestimation of how competent AI is. This is a recurring theme. So is proposing enormous government overreach as the only way to stop the ever-present threat of terrorism, a fawning attitude towards Elon Musk, and a general sense of using a lot of words to say very little (he splits global warming up, for example, into like three different chapters, so he can re-explain it multiple times). Not recommended.

48. The Book of Phobias and Manias by Kate Summerscale. The organization of the book is from A-Z of the various disorders named, but the book is more interested in using what gets named and interpreted as a lens through which to view the history of psychology and psychiatry. Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of Freudian analysis discussed, but in a critical light, and a lot of pre-Freudian psychology that I knew very little about and was interested to learn. The book also discusses the use of the words “phobia” and “mania” to discuss other cultural trends, like homophobia, xenophobia and Beatlemania, whether or not they fit the classic definitions (and the debate over the appropriateness of terms like homophobia and xenophobia).

49. The Hidden Company that Trees Keep by James B. Nardi. This is a weird, charming little book about the animals, plants and fungi that live in on and alongside trees. It’s mostly about different groups of arthropods, and of those mostly insects. The organization is overall by regions of the tree (referred to as LeafScape, BarkScape and RootScape), but within each chapter are mostly stream of consciousness discussions about different families of insects. The book is heavily illustrated, which is one of its major charms, and talks about some very obscure insect groups in an approachable manner. The overall feeling is of having a conversation with a distractible but knowledgeable entomologist. It’s probably going to annoy people who are looking for more structure, but I quite enjoyed the ride.

50. Judgment Day and Other Stories illustratedby Joe Orlando. This is one of Fantagraphics many nice hardcover collections of EC Comics stories, all of these science fiction, most from the pages of Weird Science and Weird Fantasy. The title story is a parable about racism that was censored and censured by the Comics Code Authority, and is generally one of the more famous comics of the era. Censorship and bigotry are recurring themes—I especially like the story where “the Reformers” try to introduce crime to Heaven in order to have a way to stoke fear to gain control. EC’s SF comics aren’t as famous as its horror, like Tales from the Crypt, but readers looking for ironic twist endings and gruesome gore will be well served by this collection too.   

[claudia1829things]

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" (2011) Review

Roughly five years ago, a relative of mine had suggested I watch a BBC television movie about a Victorian-era murder story. Although it aired on the Amazon Prime Video streaming channel (and still does to this day), I had assumed it was a documentary. To my surprise, it turned out to be a television movie called "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE".

Before watching the movie, I had quickly discovered that the production was an adaptation of Kate Summerscale's 2008 non-fiction book, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House", winner of Britain's Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction for that year. Hence, the reason why I had initially assumed this was a documentary. The book was an account of the real-life murder of three year-old Francis Saville Kent in 1860 Wiltshire. Francis, the three year-old son of a "Factory Commissioner" for the Home Office named Samuel Saville Kent, was found murdered on the Road Hill House estate in Wiltshire, leased by his father. The child's nursemaid, Elizabeth Gough, had announced his disappearance. Two estate hands eventually found Francis' body inside a privy-house, with knife wounds on his chest and hands, and his throat deeply slashed. Outrage over the brutal murder of a prominent man's child, Scotland Yard had dispatched Detective Inspector Jack Whicher to solve the case.

Whicher's assignment to the case proved to be a godsend for Gough, who immediately fell under the suspicions of Police Superintendent John Foley of nearby Trowbridge. The latter would have pressed for her arrest if Whicher had not cleared her of any further suspicions. However, the Scotland Yard detective's suspicions rested on another member of the household, namely Kent's sixteen year-old daughter, Constance Emily Kent. Whicher also began to suspect Constance's brother, fifteen year-old William Saville Kent. The detective believed Constance (with her brother's help) had sought revenge against their former nanny, Mary Pratt Kent, who had married their father following the death of their mother. There had been suspicions that Kent and his second wife had an affair during his marriage to Constance and William's mother. Since young Francis had been conceived during their father's second marriage, Whicher suspected Constance or both of them of murdering the three year-old boy.

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" did not strike me one of the most fascinating murder mysteries I have seen on film or television. This did not surprise me, considering the television movie proved to be more of a fictionalized account of an actual case that had been solved over 160 years ago. I would say "THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" was more of a historical drama or a "true life" crime movie than a murder mystery. After all, it did not take the protagonist very long to produce a believable suspect, halfway into the narrative. The movie eventually became a mental tug-of-war between Whicher and Constance, in which the former struggled to convince the latter to confess to the murder. At the same time, Whicher and his close friend and colleague, Adolphus "Dolly" Williamson, raced to find physical evidence to support his suspicions. Despite their success in discovering hard evidence against Constance, the pair's efforts ended up being stymied or sabotaged by Superintendent Foley, head of the local police. Not only did Foley resented an outsider becoming the lead investigator in the Kent case, he seemed offended that any working-class man would accuse the sixteen year-old daughter of a respectable, middle-class citizen like Samuel Kent, of murder. What made this even worse for Whicher is that many of the locals and the media seemed to share Foley's class bias.

I have to give kudos for the movie's production values. I believe David Roger's production designs really captured the look and style of 1860s Britain. And I believe he did so without being either extravagant or cheap. Roger's work was ably assisted by Jo Kornstein's set decorations, Kate Evenden's art direction and Matt Gray's photography. Lucinda Wright's costume designs managed to perfectly captured Roger's balanced look for the movie's setting. Were her costumes accurate for 1860s Britain? I honestly cannot say so. Regardless of accuracy, I do believe Wright's costumes managed to perfectly captured the essence of the movie's characters across both gender and class.

"THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" featured some solid performances. At least from the supporting cast. Performers like William Beck, Emma Fielding, Kate O'Flynn, Tim Piggott-Smith, Ben Miles, Donald Sumpter, Charlie Hiett, Julian Firth, Sarah Ridgeway and Antony Byrne all gave competent and solid performances. However, I believe a few did give what I consider to be the movie's best performances. Naturally, I felt Paddy Considine was sensational as the solid, yet intelligent Jack Whicher. I thought he did a superb job of conveying Whicher's growing frustration of the impediments that made his investigation to reach a successful conclusion. Equally sensational was Alexandra Roach, who gave an enigmatic and skillful performance as the cool and supercilious Constance Kent. Peter Capaldi's portrayal of Constance's father, Samuel Savill Kent, struck me as surprisingly complex and ambiguous. Capaldi did a great job of conveying hints that the public's suspicions of his character might be justified. I also found myself very impressed by Tom Georgeson's performance as the narrow-minded Superintendent Foley. The actor did an excellent job of portraying his character's class bigotry and resentment toward Whicher's role in the investigation.

As murder mysteries go, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" seemed like an ineffectual effort. When the main protagonist manages to discover the true culprit halfway into the production, it seems a waste of time to label the movie as a murder mystery. However, "THE SUSPICIONS OF MR. WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE" proved to be a very effective and well-done historical drama about a famous murder case, thanks to a skillful direction from James Hawes, a first-rate adaptation written by Neil McKay and superb performances from a cast led by Paddy Considine. As a fictionalized account of a famous true crime, the television movie proved to be quite fascinating.

[jeanmoreaux]

*✧ — JANUARY 2023 WRAP UP

posting this wrap up super late because i can. i am struggling™ and reading is probably one of the only things keeping me afloat right now; consuming any other type of media is currently not working for me. also, i am rereading the hp books for uni and i haven’t read any of them since 2007. i can’t say i absolutely hate them but some things are very icky, and you know, fuck jkr.

2023 goal: 24/100 books

as alway, feel free to drop book recs, questions, or opinions in my inbox; i am always happy to talk to you about books!

* –> newly added to my favorites shelf

follow my goodreads | follow my storygraph | previous wrap ups

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good by Helen Trusten | 2.5★ | review

Bastard by Max de Radiguès | 5★

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg | 3.5★ | review

Not Here to Be Liked by Michelle Quach | 3.75★ 

The Story of Art without Men by Kate Hessel | 4.5★ | review

I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers | 4.75★ | review

The Waves by Virginia Woolf | 5★ | review

Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung | 4★

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala | 4.75★ | review

On Beauty by Zadie Smith | 4★ | review

Zaïda by Anne Cuneo | 2.25★ | review

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher | 4★

Außer sich by Sasha Marianna Salzmann | no rating | review

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry | 4.75★ | review

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas | 3.75★ | review

* Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood | 5★

Stancliffe's Hotel by Charlotte Brontë | 4★

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford | 3.5★

The Book of Night Women by James Marlon | 4.75★ | review

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center | 3.5★

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale | 3.75★ | review

Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake | 4.25★ | review

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling | no rating

Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny by Kate Manne | 4.5★

[c00kietin]

fellowwww intp :3

tell me about your fandoms/ obsessions jdjdhdzkskdkd <3

WOOH BOY

OKAY

THIS MAY BE A LONG ONE

Well, I do have the majority of the fandoms I'm in on my pinned post so yeah

AS FOR OBSESSIONS-----

I tend to obsess over a certain amount of my ocs for some time like every few days or weeks and I think about them non stop until the new batch of ocs arrive

along with that I obsess over like a few songs for that amount of time too lmao

I kinda really love random/general/useless knowledge

Like phobias and manias? I LOVE phobias and manias! I have a whole book about em! (The Book of Phobias and Manias by Kate Summerscale, I highly recommend)

And

Um

This may make me sound weird (in a bad way) or whatever but-

Murder?

Like- serial killers, disturbing real life photos? Just generally twisted people?

Specifically over October I began learning and almost researching about some of the most horrible murderers out there like Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, etc.

So uh yeah

That stuff fascinates me on a daily basis

Oh and Prismo x Scarab from Fionna and Cake

Never watched the show,(don't know where to watch it), but I just think they're neat. And the fanart of them is scrumptious.

Thank you for letting me tell ya about that stuff @holdmyteaplease, feels good to have it off my chest. <3

[katylightingdesign]

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, by Kate Summerscale, Adapted by Alexandra Wood.

Produced and Performed at Watermill Theatre, Newbury. May 2023.

Directed by Kate Budgen 

Design by Amy Jane Cook

Video Design by Rachel Sampley

Photos by: Pamela Raith

[theflirtmeister]

3, 4, 16, 17 for the book asks!!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Dungeon Meshi (counting as 1!) - Ryoko Kui

A Heart That Works - Rob Delaney

Keanu Reeves Is Not In Love With You - Becky Holmes

Day One - Abigail Dean

Dying of Politeness - Geena Davis

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

I discovered Ryoko Kui! I’d never heard of Dungeon Meshi before this year and now I’m obsessed

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

I don’t really read books that have hype…. But maybe Kate Summerscale’s The Peepshow? I just wish there was more of her opinion in it!

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Katherine Ryan’s autobiography The Audacity was really good and made me think of her in a different (positive) light!