Photo: Edwardx / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Kate Summerscale is, to my mind, proof that nonfiction can out-thrill any novel. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher took a dusty Victorian murder and turned it into a page-turner gripping enough to become a TV drama, and her shelf of honours, including the Somerset Maugham Award and the Edgar, confirms she is no fluke. What fascinates me most is her instinct for the buried human story, the way she excavates old case files to expose the strange machinery of people's lives. London gave us a writer who treats archives like crime scenes. I genuinely admire how rigorous and yet how readable her work remains.
Overview
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 for Nonfiction in 2008.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Kate Summerscale
- Name (Japanese)
- ケイト・サマースケイル
- Reading
- けいと・さまーすけいる
- Born
- January 1, 1965 (age 61)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Snake
- Origin
- London, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- journalist / writer / novelist / non-fiction writer / biographer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2010 Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- 2017 Edgar Awards
- 1998 Somerset Maugham Award
- 2008 Baillie Gifford Prize
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House | — |
6. Links
Journalist — see all → · Writer — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.