The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective. Kate Summerscale. 2008. Walker. 360 pages.

On Sunday, 15 July 1860, Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard paid two shillings for a hansom cab to take him from Millbank, just west of Westminster, to Paddington station, the London terminus of the Great Western Railway. 

 The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is such a compelling book! How many (adult) nonfiction books have you read that you can honestly say you've read in one sitting? How many have you read that are nearly impossible to put down? I've read plenty that are good--great even; I've read plenty that I've found fascinating and enjoyable, such as Becoming Queen Victoria. But this one is just as captivating and suspenseful as a mystery or detective story.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a TRUE must read, if you enjoy detective or mystery fiction. If you find sensation novels thrilling, then, this one will prove a real treat. The author even spends a great deal of time discussing how real life court cases, real life crimes were influencing the fiction of popular authors, authors like Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, etc. The author discusses the characters and plots of these novels even quoting from them at times.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a nonfiction chronicle of a horrible murder. The murder occurs at Road Hill, in the Kent home, in June 1860. Within weeks, one of England's best detectives, Mr. Whicher, is on the case. He has opinions as to who did it. He has a definite suspect in mind; unfortunately, in the week after the arrest, he is not able to find enough evidence to make a case to bring the suspect to trial, and the person is released. (I'm trying SO hard not to spoil this one by using pronouns or names!!) It's a big disappointment to Whicher who feels that he did name the right person, but, Whicher loses some of his reputation at least because public opinion has gone against him and his suspect. In fact, the case has received so much attention that there are hundreds of letters coming in from people who feel they know who really did it based on piecing together clues from the newspaper.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is about:

• Mr. Jonathan Whicher before, during, and after this case or investigation
• The Kent family before, during, and after this murder, trial, and investigation
• The detective-police system/procedure in Britain at this time
• A handful of other "big" cases during the 1860s 

I definitely loved this one!!! I'd easily recommend it to people who love Jane Eyre, The Moonstone, Woman in White, Bleak House, etc.

Read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

• If you love fascinating, captivating, compelling nonfiction; nonfiction that reads like a novel but is well-researched.
• If you have an interest in the Victorian period
• If you are interested in sensation, mystery, or detective stories

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Dreamers of the Day

Dreamers of the Day. Mary Doria Russell. 2008. Random House. 254 pages. 

I suppose I ought to warn you at the outset that my present circumstances are puzzling, even to me. Nevertheless, I am sure of this much: my little story has become your history. You won't really understand your times until you understand mine.

There were a few things that I just loved about Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell. For example, I loved the first few chapters. Readers see the impact of World War I and the 'Spanish' influenza on our heroine, Miss Agnes Shanklin. She truly lost everyone. Her mother. Her sister. Her brother-in-law. Her two nephews. Her brother. These chapters spent describing both the war and the influenza were truly fascinating. Here she is as a young woman trying to make sense of the world, of the war, of her place in it all, she's just an ordinary woman, a school teacher, and within weeks or at the very most months, to face such sudden devastation.
A few months after these losses, she decides to visit the Middle East, to visit Egypt, Cairo, in particular. She wants to see the land where her brother-in-law and sister spent their happiest years together before the War. Her sister was friends with T.E. Lawrence, and soon she is too. She is soon mingling with other famous people too--like Winston Churchill and Lady Gertrude Bell. She is listening to their heated discussions on the Middle East. Everyone has an opinion on what is best for the many people who live there, an opinion on who should rule, how they should rule, how many countries or nations, etc.
She also makes a "special" friend while in Cairo. A man who is very, very interested in what she has to say. A man who listens intently. A man who always treats her with such kindness and respect. But this "relationship" has its basis in politics too, as she later realizes.
But as much as I loved a few things about this novel, there were other things that I just did not like at all. And these weren't small things that were bothering me. For example, I did NOT care for the narration at all. I do not like dead-narrators, for the most part. People who are telling their life story from beyond-the-grave. I do not like dead people narrating on the present, and sharing their so-called wisdom. I especially do not like opinionated dead narrators who treat Christianity with disdain and contempt.

Read Dreamers of the Day

• If you are interested in novels set during the 1920s, this one, I believe, is set in 1920/1921.
• If you are interested in reading about World War I, the 'Spanish' influenza, etc.
• If you are interested in politics and history
• If you are interested in the Middle East, the formation of the Middle East; much of this one is set in Egypt, but they also travel to Palestine.

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Bone Magician (YA)

The Bone Magician. F.E. Higgins. 2008. Feiwel and Friends. 274 pages.

How I have come to hate this place of evil, this city of nightmares. Urbs Umida they call it, Dank City, and well it deserves its name. It has taken everything that was precious to me. But I shall leave one day, soon, when I know the truth. I shall pass through those gates and it would please me greatly to not look back. Imagine, never again to inhale the stink of rot and decay, never again to see despairing eyes in the shadows, and never again to hear the name Deodonatus Snoad or to read the lies from his poisonous quill. 

Don't judge a book by its cover. Just don't.  Especially don't judge this book by its cover. (I prefer the original cover, though even that doesn't seem like a good enough cover for the contents.)

In 2009, I reviewed F.E. Higgins novel, The Black Book of Secrets. And it was love. It really was. I fell in love with the atmosphere and tone created by Higgins. I just loved his writing. Sure it was a little over-the-top, but it worked really, really well. The way he created such quirky characters, how each quirky character had a name that suited them just so.

I was not disappointed with The Bone Magician. In fact reading the Bone Magician made me want to go out and reread The Black Book of Secrets. Not to mention picking up The Eyeball Collector and The Lunatics Curse.

So in this non-sequel, readers meet quite a cast of characters. The hero is a young might-as-well-be-an-orphan named Pin Carpue. (Pin's mother is dead; his father is just on the run, supposedly because he's murdered Pin's uncle, but Pin isn't really sure that is true and Pin's father could have just disappeared the day his uncle died by pure coincidence). And the heroine is a young girl with plenty of secrets named Juno Catchpole. I could tell you that readers first meet Pin after he's been drugged seemingly unconscious by Juno and her associates. I could tell you that Pin witnesses something incredible and unbelievable: he witnesses Juno 'raising' the dead corpse in the coffin on display at the undertakers. Or I could tell you about Benedict Pantagus, Madame de Bona, Deodonatus Snoad, Aluph Buncombe, or Beag Hickory. But I won't. I think the magic of this fantasy is in letting it surprise you.

I loved this one. I just loved it. I like the writing, the storytelling, the characterization. It is just charming and funny. True, the humor could be seen as being on the dark side. And perhaps dark dramas aren't usually considered to be all that charming. But in this case, it all works. It is not as dark and as creepy as the cover would have you believe. It is not a creepy-scary book. Even if it does feature the Silver Apple killer.

An example of the writing:

Whether or not Hickory Reds were the preferred choice of a potato thrower, it was certainly true that when it came to projecting medium-sized weighty objects through the air, there was no one to match Beag. It wasn't just the distance, you understand, it was also the accuracy with which he threw them.
Beag was a man with many talents and he had left his home village at a young age to see the world, to learn, and to seek his fortune. He was not going to let his lack of stature be an obstacle and by the ripe old age of twenty-four he had achieved two out of three of his fine objectives. He had certainly traveled extensively and had written songs and poems to prove it. Aluph was not wrong in saying he was an intellectual giant. Beag had acquired knowledge that few Urbs Umidians would believe, let alone remember, and he had forgotten more than most could even know. But on the third, the matter of his fortune, Beag had been well and truly thwarted. Of all the facts he had learned, the hardest had to be that there was no money to be made from poetry and singing. But perhaps there was a living to be earned from potato throwing. Certainly it was a talent that appealed to the stunted imaginations of the Urbs Umidians. (91-92)

Read The Bone Magician

• If setting, tone, and atmosphere are important to you; this one has it in abundance!
• If you enjoy quirky, charming, slightly-dark, but mostly-all-in-good-fun fantasy novels
• If you want to like Dickens but don't quite; OR if you love Dickens for his eccentric, shady characters
• If you're looking for a good YA fantasy

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England. A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century. Ian Mortimer. 2008. Simon & Schuster. 345 pages.

It is the cathedral that you will see first.

Is this book as promising as it sounds? Is it dry and boring? OR is it actually FUN?

I found The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England a fun and delightful read. It was written in a way that I wish all history books could be written. If history textbooks read like this one, perhaps more people would like studying it!

The text was very engaging. The author is speaking directly to readers as if they were actually going to be visiting the past. The past feels very real, very much alive.

The premise is fun and unique. As the jacket flap says, "The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook." And..."A time machine has just transported you back to the fourteenth century. What do you see? How do you dress? How do you earn a living and how much are you paid? What sort of food will you be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? And more important, where will you stay?"

It is divided essentially into eleven chapters:

• The Landscape
• The People
• The Medieval Character
• Basic Essentials
• What to Wear
• Traveling
• Where To Stay
• What to Eat and Drink
• Health and Hygeine
• The Law
• What to Do

My favorite chapter was "Health and Hygiene." "What to Wear," "The People," and "Traveling" were also quite interesting. (My least favorite chapter was "The Law.")

Overall, I found the book fascinating. I did. I think it's a great companion read for those who love historical fiction. There are so many great books set during this time period, and reading this book can help you appreciate the time period even more, I think.

© 2011 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews