Fact of Fiction? Fact IS Fiction: The Reviews of Mr. Whicher

Kate Summerscale’s Suspicions of Mr. Whicher is a novel about a true murder that took place during Victorian England. The victim, Saville Kent, was found brutally murdered in the Road Hill outhouse, and the murder soon found a spot on the mystery shelf next to England’s detective fiction. The “Age of Detection” was at its peak, and Scotland Yard’s own detective, Jonathan Whicher, was on the case. The case soon expanded beyond the actual murder scene and into the previously forbidden quarters of the Victorian England household. Detective Whicher uncovered family dysfunction and grudges within the Kent household which led to his accusation of Constance Kent, half-sister to the victim, committing the murder. Whicher’s unspeakable, yet ultimately accurate, accusation led to the public disgrace of his character. Continued criticism of his personal background and skepticism of his talents resulted in Jonathan Whicher’s fall from his place as the “prince of detectives.” It appeared that only the detectives in fiction were allowed to have faults.
I thought Suspicions of Mr. Whicher was a fantastic way to end the semester. The course began with simply opening one’s eyes to the world (or worlds in Mowgli’s case,) which then led to a healthy, childish curiosity (that had good and bad consequences. Alice is a prime example of that!) and finally to curiosity evolving (just like Darwin said!) into detective fiction which largely concerned murders and/or heinous crimes. The Road Hill murder coincidentally happened during the same time detective fiction was becoming popular. This real-life murder transcended into a pseudo-fiction realm, which ended up causing ruin of Victorian England’s greatest, “real” detective. Compared to Holmes, Mr. Whicher was a saint. Aside from his mysterious family issues, Whicher was a nice and clever man who sought to do his job the best he could (and no one, to the best of my knowledge, caught him shooting up cocaine.) He was highly revered before his Road Hill murder case. Jonathan Whicher’s one crime was uncovering secrets that stretched beyond the actual murder. Those sorts of tricks only work for fictional detectives, such as Poe’s Dupin (as seen in “The Mystery of Marie Roget” even though that murder along with its background scandal were also based off of real events.)
The most interesting thing I’ve learned about Victorian England is that those fancy dress-wearing Brits I thought I knew ended up not being so different from modern people. Industrialization, colonization, and evolutionary theory hit Victorian England similarly to what we’re experiencing with “information overload.” Both changes led to an overflow of new ideas about God, nature, humanity, and morality. The Road Hill murder seems like a very, very early ancestor to the reality shows that are (unfortunately) imbedded in modern society. Scientific advances and globalization causes modern people to be very curious and to question everything much like the people of Victorian England. The resurgence of Victorian fiction in theatres also helps to make the connection. Stories such as Alice in Wonderland and Sherlock Holmes are still intriguing tales, though modern people need to see things in HD and in 3D to get a thrill anymore (thanks, technology.) Television shows, such as CSI, follow the trend of murder investigations and forensic science that were started during Victorian England. Although detection has now been around for over 200 years, there is a still a sense of shock when it is applied to actual events. It appears that, even now, fiction cannot prepare us for the shock of real events.



…and to show how smart I am, here is a picture of the spare change I’ve been saving. The jar even counts how much money I’ve saved. So far, I’ve got $56.58…what a smart move!