The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer

While I wait for your feedback on what kind of posts to focus on this year, I will kick off this year’s posts with a seemingly unusual question: What do you get when you combine history with a murder mystery?

Answer: The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer; a true story of redemption and a well-researched book by Kate Summerscale.

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In the summer of 1895, Robert Coombes (age 13) and his brother Nattie (age 12) were seen spending lavishly around the docklands of East London — for ten days in July, they ate out at coffee houses and took trips to the seaside and the theater. The boys told neighbors they had been left home alone while their mother visited family in Liverpool, but their aunt was suspicious. When she eventually forced the brothers to open the house to…