Shall God not search this out?

Camped upon a sun-soaked beach and hidden under a parasol, most people will find for the first time this year that they are free to indulge in a book. So where should you start? Well, the publishing industry is churning away trying to serve up a replacement for Harry Potter, whose fate was finally decided last summer and, looking around, there is certainly plenty to choose from.

Last week The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House was awarded the Samuel Johnson Prize; and if you are looking for beautifully conceived and written piece of non-fiction, then this book could be perfect for your holidays.

Kate Summerscale’s book revisits the story of a brutal murder, committed in a quiet English village during the height of the summer of 1860. It was a graphic, cold blooded deed that sent waves of shock across an appalled Victorian society. Those that fell under suspicion were the family and the servants of the victim – for they, as Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard supposed, were the only ones with the means to commit the foul deed.

Summerscale’s book is a wonderful evocation of a rich period of British history. The rise of a national police force and a growing interest of criminal motivations and psyche accompanied the case which in turn sparked a wave of detective fever. Those influenced by the case included the novelist Charles Dickens and it proved a catalyst for the development of detective fiction, or which Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is the most famous.

Your summer holidays could provide you with the perfect opportunity to play detective yourself. Are the suspicions of Mr Whicher correct? Who was capable of committing such a gruesome murder as the one that was found at Road Hill House? Summerscale unravels the plot with rare talent and a beautiful eye for dialogue, drawing the reader into the story with cloaked clues and revealing anecdotes. Harry Potter may have gone, but with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, you can comfort yourself in another improbable but darkly seductive tale.

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