Kate Summerscale (born 2 September 1965) is an English writer and journalist. She is best known for the bestselling narrative nonfiction books The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, which was made into a television drama, '' The Wicked Boy'' and The Haunting of Alma Fielding. She has won a number of literary prizes, including the

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...

for Nonfiction in 2008.

Biography

Summerscale was brought up in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, England and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. After attending

Bedales School Bedales School is a coeducational boarding and day public school, in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by Amy Garrett Badley and John Haden Badley in reaction to the li ...

(1978–1983), she took a double-first at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

and an MA in journalism from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. She lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with her son.

Writing

She is the author of ''The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House'', based on a real-life crime committed by Constance Kent and investigated by

Jack Whicher Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher (1 October 1814 – 29 June 1881) was an English police detective. He was one of the original eight members of London's newly formed Detective Branch, which was established at Scotland Yard in 1842.

, a book described in '' Literary Review'' as an altogether "deft 21st-century piece of cultural detection" which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2008. Summerscale also wrote the bestselling ''The Queen of Whale Cay'', about Joe Carstairs, "fastest woman on water", which won a

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...

in 1998 and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography. Her book on Whicher inspired the 2011–2014 ITV drama series, '' The Suspicions of Mr Whicher'', written by

Helen Edmundson Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen. Early life Edmu ...

. She worked for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and from 1995 to 1996 she wrote and edited obituaries for ''The Daily Telegraph''. She also worked as literary editor of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. Her articles have appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...

''. She has also judged various literary competitions including the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

in 2001. ''The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place'' was published in October 2024. In a piece she wrote for the Guardian, Summerscale said she found chilling resonances between the murders at 10 Rillington Place and modern events.

Television adaptations

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was turned into a hit ITV drama in 2011, running for two seasons. It starred

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, screenwriter and musician. He is known for playing antiheros in independent films. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard British ...

and

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

and was adapted by Neil McKay and

. The Haunting of Alma Fielding is being developed as a limited series by Charlotte Stoudt and Minkie Spiro, of New Pictures, who also made Fosse/Verdon.

Awards and prizes

*1997

Whitbread Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

(for biography), shortlist, ''The Queen of Whale Cay'' *1998

, winner, ''The Queen of Whale Cay'' *2008

, winner, ''The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House'' *2009

Anthony Awards The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Categori ...

(Best Critical / Non-fiction Work), shortlist, ''The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House'' *2010 Elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

*2017

Edgar Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

(Best Fact Crime), winner, ''The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer'' *2020

Baillie Gifford Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...

, shortlist, ''The Haunting of Alma Fielding''

Bibliography

*''The Queen of Whale Cay'', Fourth Estate, August 1997 *''The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House'', Bloomsbury, April 2008 *''Mrs Robinson's Disgrace'' (2012) *''The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer'' (29 Apr 2016) *'' The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story'' (2020) *''The Book of Phobias and Manias'', Profile Books, October 2022 *''The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place'', Bloomsbury, October 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Summerscale, Kate 1965 births English writers Living people People educated at Bedales School Alumni of St John's College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English biographers English women biographers English women novelists English women journalists Edgar Award winners English women non-fiction writers