A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer by Kate Summerscale

3.0

There's really no mystery in "The Wicked Boy," which is why it fell so flat with me. Robert Coombes killed his mother, and he, his younger brother, and a friend went to cricket games and ate out with money taken from his mother's purse. The three would then return home and play cards while Mrs. Coombes lay dead in the bedroom, disintegrating in the summer heat.

Why? We never know. A great deal of research went into this book, but without Robert ever having said anything to report, he remains the mystery.

I liked Kate Summerscale's books much more than this one, which should have been the most gripping and fascinating of them all.