Kate Summerscale unpacks the truth in true crime

Kate Summerscale’s bestselling narrative nonfiction The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was made into big telly, starring Peter Capaldi and unraveling a murder that took place in the 1860s. Her latest book is much more recent history, however, and in The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place, she revisits the crimes of John Reginald Halliday Christie, one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, putting flesh on the bones of his female victims and looking at the role played by the sensationalist media of the time.

She chats to Mick about all of the above, what Christie’s crimes said about Britain at the time, how much – if at all – anything’s changed, and why true crime is still such popular entertainment.

The Peepshow: The Murders at Rillington Place is published by Bloomsbury and out now.

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