Kate Summerscale

In 1860 Scotland Yard's 'Prince of Sleuths' Jack Whicher is sent to rural Wiltshire to investigate the murder of three-year-old Saville Kent, snatched from his bed at night and killed. (imdb)

Whicher,retired from the police after his failure to solve the Road Hill House case,encounters Susan Spencer in a rough tavern,seeking her niece Mary,who came to London to find Stephen Gann,father of her baby. Soon afterwards Mary is found slain and the child missing and Whicher offers to help Susan find the killer. The baby is located at a home for unwed mothers,run by Reverend Marlow,who believes Mary went after Stephen,who rejected her. Whicher learns that Stephen's father was hung for murder (imdb)

Mr Whicher is hired by his one-time political master and the man behind Whicher's dismissal from the force, former Home Secretary Sir Edward Shore, to look into threats made against his son Charles, who has recently returned to London from India with his wife and children, only to discover he is being pursued by Lascars (A slang for Indian sailors) in search of some kind of retribution. (wikipedia.org)

Whicher is engaged by Sir Henry Coverley, who suspects his wife Jane of infidelity and his sleuthing leads to his talking to the Coverley groom Josh and his wife Ruth, the village post mistress. Eventually he seeks out Jane's lover Matthew Thorogood, who insists that he genuinely loves her. However he is nowhere to be seen when the divorce case comes to court and he is later found dead. (imdb)