Like stepping into a time machine - Rated 
I still have a little of this book to read so shouldn't really be reviewing it yet! However, having read some of the other reviews I had to make my own point.
First of all I bought it mainly because I live in the area and someone had talked to me about it as she lived in the village where it happened. This somehow brought it to 'life' for me and the fact that I like murder/mystery and whodunnits seemed to guarantee it as a good read.
I haven't been disappointed and have had to ration myself so I can make it last. It is detailed and some others here have said TOO detailed - the money values, where Whicher lived and stayed etc. But I LIKE this as it makes it all feel very real to me because let's face it, the story itself is fairly thin and could be told quite rapidly and it is slightly a cop- out that the murderer is only found because he/she confesses rather than being caught by skilled detective work. But that is what happened so can't be changed.
I actually liked the social comment and placing and the fine detail more than anything real as it brought me firmly into the period. I could almost smell the world in which this family the the detectives lived and I think this is what the author intended so we could fully understand Whicher's world. I had been researching my own family tree back to this era of history so was doubly interested as it gave me some idea how my relatives lived. (well, not quite like this though, thankfully!!)
With a recent child murder (as yet unsolved) still with us all and accusations of police blunders - so nothing new there, we can really feel this book and the full horror of it. I possibly would like to have had had MORE detail about the family reactions to the discovery which somehow never quite came out. I mean, can a person every really recover from the murder of a child like this - yet this family carried on and had more children - moved away a few times but really just carried on.
Poor old Whicher, no DNA or forensics - he was reduced to listening to local gossip and trying to 'read' faces. Or maybe, just maybe that is the way we should approach crime given that his first and only hunch was right. Yes,I know we don't or can't convict on a hunch but it does get the brain thinking.
A great read and I am looking forward to the final chapter. If you like the detective genre - especially real life crime you will probably love this but if you also love social history then you will definitely LOVE this but if you expect too much you could well be disappointed. Isn't that always the way?
I hear the house was or still is up for sale recently .. and that it has a real 'life' ghost! Let's hope if it is Francis Kent, that someone has cleaned him up a bit (from being down the 'privy') for him to haunt the house ...
suspicions of mr whicher - Rated 
This book could of been half the size . Padded out with repeated info which became boring .I became very borded half way through and could't wait to finish.
I don't know how this one prizes!!!
A thorough examination of a murder - Rated 
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 - Rated
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 - Rated
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!
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