#the suspicions of mr whicher

[madseance]

All the suspects in a classic murder mystery have secrets, and to keep them they lie, dissemble, evade the interrogations of the investigator. Everyone seems guilty because everyone has something to hide. For most of them, though, the secret is not murder. This is the trick on which detective fiction turns.

The danger, in a real murder case, was that the detective might fail to solve the crime he had been sent to investigate. He might instead get lost in the tangle of the past, mired in the mess he had dug up.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, or the Murder at Road Hill House, by Kate Summerscale

[misshyacinthbridgerton]

Well…..I didn’t expect that plot twist with Luke Thompson’s character in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

[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.

[danu2203]

A GOOD BINGE!

[lukethompsondaily]

Luke Thompson Master Drive

Crossed out titles are not in this drive but can be easily found (exceptions marked with asterisks and detailed under the cut). Crossed out and red means that although the productions have been recorded there are no files available.

If you want access to it just DM me!

Shakespeare's Globe: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2014)

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (2011‑2014)

Hampstead Theatre at Home: Tiger Country (2014)

Globe on Screen: Julius Caesar (2015)

The Complete Walk: Romeo and Juliet (2016)

In the Club (2014‑2016) NEW!

Dunkirk (2017)

Hamlet (2018)

Kiss Me First (2018-2018)

National Theatre Live: King Lear (2018)

Making Noise Quietly (2019)

Misbehaviour (2020)

Tikkun Olam (2022)*

Transatlantic (2023-2023)

A Little Life (2023)

Bridgerton (2020‑ )

* = This one was available for a year to rent online but it seems that no one did a screen recording so it’s unavailable for the time being.

[marzipanandminutiae]

speaking of constance kent, have you read summerscale’s the suspicions of mr whicher?

I have not, but I know it's based on her case!

My main interest in Constance Kent is in her early life story's resemblance to that of Lucille Sharpe- again, I suspect GDT knew about her -but it's wild what happened with her life after that. Like...she murdered a child. Ostensibly to get back at her abusive stepmother, by "taking something she loved away," and that's by Kent's own admission.

And then she turned herself in. After her prison sentence was served, she went to Australia, changed her name, and lived a long rest of her life in relative peace. The nursing home workers, near the end of her life, described her as a sweet old lady. She had an incredibly affectionate obituary.

Again, she murdered. A child. She slit her four-year-old stepbrother's throat in cold blood.

Imagine if your favorite elderly person to visit in the nursing home turned out to have straight-up killed a kid when she was 16.

[arthur-lesters-tummy]

i'm reading "the suspicions of mr whicher" which has an introduction talking about how detectives/fiction came to be. "the first fictional sleuth Auguste Dupin, appeared in Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Murders in the rue Morgue' in 1841, and the first real detectives in the English speaking world were appointed by London metropolitan police the next year (1842)"

and a paragraph i think you'll find VERY interesting;

"A Victorian detective was a secular substitute for a prophet or priest. In a newly uncertain world, he offered science, conviction, stories that could organise chaos. He turned brutal crimes - the vestiges of the beast in man - into intellectual puzzles. But after the investigation at Road Hill, the image of the detective darkened. Many felt that Whicher's inquiries culminated in a violation of the middle-class home, an assault on privacy, a crime to match the murderer he had been sent to solve.

He exposed the corruptions within the household: sexual transgression, emotional cruelty, scheming servants, wayward children, insanity, jealousy, loneliness and loathing. The scene he uncovered aroused fear (and excitement) at the thought of what might be hiding behind the closed doors of other respectable houses. His conclusions helped to create an era of voyeurism and suspicion in which the detective was a shadowy figure, a demon, as well as a Demi God."

makes a lot of sense why Arthur chose to become a detective beyond just his observation skills...

[nisabaismymistress-blog]

Peter Capaldi as Samuel Kent in "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder at Road Hill House."

[doumekiss]

[dnickels]

In a similar vein I'm listening to Lady Audley's Secret, which isn't good necessarily but I am absolutely loving every second of it, which is the next best thing. I do think people dismiss it out of hand for the purple prose and paper-thin "mystery" but the former is just the 1860s, you gotta eat their food the way they make it, and the latter I think is forgivable because it's not a whodunnit or even a whydunnit, its what happens when the Angel in the House commits a crime-- not just any crime, a crime against the home, the family-- so huge that there's not a real mechanism of retribution without bringing the whole structure down. Yes there is a literal mechanism of policing (its the police) and the book would be much shorter if anyone decided to get them involved but Robert's struggle is about how to remove this load-bearing from his Uncle's household without it all coming down around their ears an ruining everything. The ENORMITY of it all. The UNSPEAKABLE nature of transgression when committed by a saintly little wife. It should not be possible within the High Victorian understanding of the world and yet here we are. There's so much commentary on women as adversaries and allies across class lines, about how they can use their class/gender position to evade punishment but also cannot escape the reality of being a permanent dependent. There are also a few banger lines along with truly unhinged digressions. Concentrated ideology powerful enough to kill a small dog. You can really see in the influence of the Road House murder and how deeply that shook people (finished The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher in January and it was such a good read)

[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★

[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

[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.

[faye-tale]

Throwing this back at you: LT characters with some beards and dealbreaker flaws. Joshua (Suspicions of Mr Whicher) - farrier with some uh...issues with romantic and family history. Or Simon (In the Club) - deadbeat juvenile artist with a kid by someone else.

Now this ask originally was supposed to be about appearance alone, right?

Cos ok… Joshua is soooooo messed upppp. But he does look hot, all grimy like yes I’ll hose you down young man.

Simon… well he has an adorable selection of fuzzy sweaters and the cutest little bubble of a tummy in that bed scene…

Listen… bless this man and his four chest hairs (who I’ve yet to see evidence he can grow a real beard) … out of the two I think Simon edges it. Josh is just so fucked up

Thanks for this one 🤣😁🧡

[quoteoftheweekblog]

…

2/9/24 - SEBASTIAN JUNGER (AND ‘LORD OF THE FLIES’)

'Strangely, the sea doesn't get tedious to look at - wave trains converge and crisscross in patterns that have never happened before and will never happen again. It can take hours to tear one's eyes away.' (Junger, 2010, p.58).

REFERENCE

Junger, S. (2010 [1997] ) 'The perfect storm - a true story of men against the sea'. Amazon.com [E-book]. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Storm-True-Story-Against-ebook/dp/B004APA538 (Accessed 31st August 2024).

*****

…

…

TO MY FRIEND IN MILTON ON SEA FOR THE PHOTO OF THE SEA AT THE END OF HER ROAD

BEFORE LEAVING FOR THE OTHER END OF THE COUNTRY AND HER SCOTTISH VISIT

…

HELMSDALE, north of Inverness, south of Thurso

…

INCLUDING SEAL

…

&

…

Leaving Scrabster en route to Orkney

VIA

…

SCAPA FLOW

&

…

Last one - farming fish on Skye

XXXX

…

*****

CONGRATULATIONS 2024

…

2024 IS THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUBLICATION OF ‘LORD OF THE FLIES’ - WILLIAM GOLDING - 17/9/1954

NEWS REPORT

…

CONGRATULATIONS

*****

FOR BOOK GROUP AUGUST 2024 

20 (90) GLORIOUS YEARS

…

'They sleep, talk, watch T.V., and read; there are high school dropouts who go through half a dozen books on the Grand Banks.' (Junger, 2010, p.57).

LAST MONTH I ALSO READ

…

AUGUST BLUE

ON LOAN FROM OUR READER LEADER

📚📚📚📚📚

LAST MONTH OUR MEMBERS ALSO READ OR ARE STILL READING …

TOP READER (AND SCOTTISH TRAVELLER)

…

THE SLEEPWALKERS

… also reading …

&

…

CADFAEL

… 2 more …

&

…

GO SET A WATCHMAM

… sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, which did not really live up to the hype …

&

…

THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER

… always has a reminder here for us as the brother who was widely considered to be one of the murderers is buried in our churchyard.

📚📚📚📚📚

OTHER READERS

…

THE DISPOSSESSED

I couldn't get into it.

&

…

RESTORATION

It’s bad behaviour turning to worse behaviour and then getting better again.

&

…

CABAL

I always enjoy Michael Dibdin.

MEANWHILE THE OTHER HALF

…

THE CONTINENTAL OP

 … short stories but I didn't really enjoy it.

&

…

A DOCTOR IN AFRICA

It was light easy reading despite the subject matter.

📚📚📚📚📚

…

I AM PILGRIM

I WAS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE U3A BOOK GROUP NOT TO LIKE IT.

📚📚📚📚📚

AND OUR READER LEADER

…

THE COUNTRY GIRLS TRILOGY

I’m on the last one but not sure why she was banned by the Catholic Church.

&

…

DEMON COPPERHEAD

THE REASON WHY I’m Still only half way through is because I read a page and then fall asleep.

📚📚📚📚📚

PLUS

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBER

HOORAH

WHO HAS RECENTLY READ

…

THE SALT PATH

📚📚📚📚📚

…

BOOK GROUP

*****

QUOTE OF THE WEEK 2011 - 2024

…

13 EPIC YEARS

*****

FROM THE ARCHIVE

…

26/8/19

*****

[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