Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher

In Kate Summerscale’s book The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, a murder has happened at the Road Hill House. Who murdered the young Saville Kent? This is the question we are trying to find out. Was it the nursemaid, the parents, a sibling, or an outsider?

In this book there are already a lot of people we come across who could potentially be suspects. Samuel Kent, the father, was disliked by his neighbors and he thinks they might have killed Saville because he put up no trespassing signs where people used to fish. Though this could just be an excuse for him killing his own child. Elizabeth Gough, the nursemaid, was previously taken into custody because she was a prime suspect for the murder. Gough was quickly set free because she was very distressed

He took note that Constance and William were the only two children who had their own room so it would be easy for either one of them to sneak out at any given moment whenever they wanted without really being noticed. Whicher explains that he doesn't think that Saville was taken out through the drawing room, but through an alternative route. The open window that was unlocked could have just been from someone inside the house or a distraction that made people think that Saville was stolen out of the house. He makes a point that the murderer tried to make a trail to mislead the police into where they thought the body was versus where the body actually was. Our attention was brought back to Constance and her nightgowns. He confiscates her linen list and the rest of her nightdresses. This is clue number one for Whicher. Then Whicher goes back in time with the family and there seemed to be a repetition of deaths. They claimed the babies died of atrophy, but there could be a deeper reason beyond that. Constance was the first child to survive in the Kent family. Then they had William. The only two survivors from Samuel’s First marriage. This could have made them close