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The Peepshow
The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place | Kate Summerscale
6 posts | 6 read | 7 to read
FROM BRITAIN'S TOP-SELLING TRUE CRIME WRITER AND THE #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER... 'Once more, Kate Summerscale shatters our preconceptions of a classic crime' Val McDermid 'Remarkable . . . Gripping . . . Its shocking truths are necessary ones' Erica Wagner, Financial Times 'Every bit the gripping, page-turning treat' Mark Bostridge, Spectator London, 1953. Police discover the bodies of three young women hidden in a wall at 10 Rillington Place, a dingy terrace house in Notting Hill. On searching the building, they find another body beneath the floorboards, then an array of human bones in the garden. But they have already investigated a double murder at 10 Rillington Place, three years ago, and the killer was hanged. Did they get the wrong man? A nationwide manhunt is launched for the tenant of the ground-floor flat, a softly spoken former policeman named Reg Christie. Star reporter Harry Procter chases after the scoop. Celebrated crime writer Fryn Tennyson Jesse begs to be assigned to the case. The story becomes an instant sensation, and with the relentless rise of the tabloid press the public watches on like never before. Who is Christie? Why did he choose to kill women, and to keep their bodies near him? As Harry and Fryn start to learn the full horror of what went on at Rillington Place, they realise that Christie might also have engineered a terrible miscarriage of justice in plain sight. In this riveting true story, Kate Summerscale mines the archives to uncover the lives of Christie's victims, the tabloid frenzy that their deaths inspired, and the truth about what happened inside the house. 'A gripping account of murder, misogyny and spectatorship' Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith 'A forensic reappraisal of a grimy episode in postwar British history . . . Shocking, impeccably researched, lucidly written and always utterly compelling' Graeme Macrae Burnet, author of His Bloody Project 'The queen of true crime' Laura Thompson, author of Take Six Girls
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AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

In March 1953 the police found 4 dead women at 10 Rillington Place hidden in the walls and floorboards. Reg Christie was soon a suspect and one of the victims was his wife. Just 4 years before, in 1949, another man had been convicted for murdering his own wife and child on the same address.

This isn‘t a story looking into the life of victims and ignoring the suspect. It looks at both, but more importantly it looks at the press and the

AnneCecilie voyeuristic tendencies in humans treating this as entertainment. A tabloid paid for Reg Christie‘s defense attorney. People would bring their chairs and food to sit down outside 10 Rillington Place to watch the police work and buy the tabloids. As one of the journalists covering this case, Harry Procter wrote in his memoir The Secret of Disillusion published 1958: “‘Sit down there, you, that man in the back row‘, he admonished. ‘I‘ll have no 2w
AnneCecilie hypocritical comment! How many murderers‘ stories have you read, sir, in the Sunday papers? If you‘ve never read one, then I‘ll listen to you. If you have read one, then shut up! We poor slavers are your servants, sir, not your masters. We give you what you want because you want it! Let me tell you, sir, before you throw your back-row sear at me, it was tougher for me to do than it is for you to read about it. But you, sir, you were the boss.‘” (edited) 2w
AnneCecilie When Christie was accused of murdering these women, it also opened up the question if the right man had been convicted in 1949, for what are the odds of to murderers living under the same roof? So it also looks at pride and the inability for people in high power to admit mistakes and how that impacts a lot of people 2w
kspenmoll Wonderful, in depth review, 2w
AnneCecilie @kspenmoll Thank you 😊 2w
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Hooked_on_books
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Mehso-so

I was looking forward to this one and am a little disappointed by it. It tells the story of a series of murders but the organization isn‘t great, making it disjointed. It also tells it to some degree from a social justice lens, which I loved, but I think it would have been better if that was the focus and the murders and attitudes around them were illustrative. #WPNF25

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Bookbuyingaddict
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Happy 😊 pancakes 🥞 day from the uk 🇬🇧 ☺️mollie moo and I with library 📚 pre orders - I‘m finding the peepshow fascinating 🧐 I wouldn‘t say I‘m enjoying it as the theme/ topic is just so terribly sad 😔 the casual misogyny and racism is making my blood 🩸 boil who the hell would want to live in the 50s let‘s pray 🙏 Wer not moving back towards these despicable attitudes

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo
52 likes1 comment
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youneverarrived
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Pickpick

This was cheap on kindle so ended up buying it for #wpnf25. I found the writing really engaging. The way the subject matter was written about through a social commentary lens, aswell as the bits about the newspaper journalist Harry Procter, was done so well. You really get a sense of the time and place. There is no concrete conclusion when it comes to the murders & motives etc but the author has clearly done her research with this book.

squirrelbrain Great review! ❤️ 2mo
LeahBergen I‘m looking forward to this one! 2mo
youneverarrived It‘s a good one @LeahBergen 🖤 2mo
49 likes4 comments
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squirrelbrain
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Pickpick

This #wpnf25 longlister uses the titular murders to present a wider look at the sociological issues of the poorer side 1950s London, including racism against Black people, prostitution and back-street abortions.

The author looks through the lenses of a newspaper crime reporter and an illness-beset lady crime writer to present different views on the murders, and whether someone was wrongly hanged for one of the crimes.

Engrossing!

Chelsea.Poole Great review. This is one I‘m eagerly awaiting. It publishes in the US May 6. 3mo
fredthemoose Thanks for the review! Went through last night and started plotting how best to get my hands on the women‘s nonfiction list. Looking for to this one! 3mo
jenniferw88 Sounds like you enjoyed it more than me! 😀🤣 3mo
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Hooked_on_books Nice! This one sounded interesting from the longlist to me as well @Chelsea.Poole . Alas, we must wait (or order it from Blackwell‘s). 3mo
squirrelbrain Ha! Holly @Hooked_on_books - I was going to suggest to @Chelsea.Poole that she ordered from Blackwells. Great minds think alike! 3mo
Hooked_on_books They do have free shipping to the US, after all! 3mo
Librarybelle I watched her talk about this book through the National Archives of the UK online programming. It sounds so good! 3mo
ChaoticMissAdventures I had to order this one! I am looking forward to it, glad to hear you liked it! 3mo
squirrelbrain @Librarybelle @ChaoticMissAdventures - I passed it on to hubby last night who is also really enjoying it. His initial thought was that it was more of a social commentary on the times (which it was!) so if you like that kind of book you‘ll really enjoy it. 3mo
youneverarrived Sounds really interesting! I like a social commentary sort of book. Thanks for tagging me. This is the most popular of the long list at the library so might be a little while before it gets to me but I‘ll look forward to it. 3mo
squirrelbrain It‘s a shame you have such a long wait @youneverarrived 🤨 3mo
TheKidUpstairs I'm really looking forward to this one! Like @Chelsea.Poole I've got to wait until May, but I'm already on a library hold list for it! 3mo
70 likes5 stack adds12 comments
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jenniferw88
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Mehso-so
ShelleyBooksie I'd love to hear what made it so-so. Was it slow paced? 3mo
jenniferw88 @ShelleyBooksie medium. It's a high so-so/low pick - I think I wanted more definite answers as to who did it/what really happened. If you liked The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, you might enjoy it better. 3mo
51 likes2 comments