The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

One London newspaper called the 1895 murder of Mrs. Emily Coombes "the most dreadful murder of the century." The killer was her 13-year-old son, Robert, who, along with his 12-year-old brother, Nattie, continued to live in their East London home with the decomposing body for 10 days before the stench began arousing suspicions. With her usual restraint and impeccable research, biographer Kate Summerscale's The Wicked Boy delves into the matricide, its sensational courtroom trial and the jury's verdict that Robert was guilty but insane at the time of the murder.

When Robert was sentenced to an indefinite detention at Broadmoor ("a fortified criminal lunatic asylum that housed the most notorious killers in Britain"), most readers would think that was the end of the story. But Summerscale's investigation discovers that Robert was rehabilitated, and in the second half of his life, he won a medal for his military service in World War I, and became an unofficial guardian to an abused boy (whose abuse was very similar to that in the Coombes household when Robert was a child).

Summerscale (The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher) is a deft historical crime writer with an eye for fascinating period detail and psychological insight to the times. She writes with immense control, trusting that her readers will connect the pieces of evidence without breaking the Victorian era reserve with modern day-intrusions. The Wicked Boy is an absorbing piece of true-crime investigation, and a surprising and satisfying tale of redemption. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant