I dived for this book when I saw it, nestled snugly on the shelf in the Avid Reader bookshop in Brisbane’s West End. For the past month I’ve been in Australia, and this well-stocked, jazzy store was on the list – alongside the koala sanctuary, the eight national parks and Max Brenner’s chocolate café. I’ve loved Kate Summerscale since 2008, when I worked weekends at a bookshop in Tooting and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was all anyone was reading. This, her latest delve into non-fiction crime, spans many generations and many nations and soars straight into my Favourite Books of 2016 list.
