This is a ripped-from-the-history-books tale of a ghoulish murder starring Mr.Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard. He may have been the first detective who really detected: looked for clues, interviewed suspects, sifted evidence.  His first Big Investigation was the 1860 murder of a young boy on the grounds of his father’s grand house. The author gives us background, clues aplenty, and traces the search for the murderer.  Whicher spots the perpetrator after his siftings, but gets no credit until a confession proves him on the mark.  It’s a who-done-it, and Whicher fingers the  who—or does he? [4/09]