Kate Summerscale

Kate Summerscale studied at Bedales School. The recorded working language is English. Positions recorded include Booker Prize judge. Works named in the authority record are The Suspicions of Mr. Distinctions recorded are Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Edgar Awards, Somerset Maugham Award and Baillie Gifford Prize.

• Name — Kate Summerscale • Born — 2 September 1965 • Birthplace — London, England • Occupation — Writer and journalist • Education — University of Oxford, Stanford University • Notable Works — The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House • Website — https: www.katesummerscale.com/

Summerscale was brought up in Japan, England and Chile. After attending Bedales School (1978–1983), she took a double-first at Oxford University and an MA in journalism from Stanford University. She lives in London with her son.

She is the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House, based on a real-life crime committed by Constance Kent and investigated by Jack Whicher, a book described in Literary Review as an altogether "deft 21st-century piece of cultural detection" which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2008. Summerscale also wrote the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, "fastest woman on water", which won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998 and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography. Her book on Whicher inspired the 2011–2014 ITV drama series, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, written by Helen Edmundson. She worked for The Independent and from 1995 to 1996 she wrote and edited obituaries for The Daily Telegraph. She also worked as literary editor of The Daily Telegraph. Her articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. She has judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize in 2001. The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place was published in October 2024. In a piece she wrote for The Guardian, Summerscale said she found chilling resonances between the murders at 10 Rillington Place and modern events.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was turned into a hit ITV drama in 2011, running for two seasons. It starred Paddy Considine and Peter Capaldi and was adapted by Neil McKay and Helen Edmundson. As of 2021 The Haunting of Alma Fielding was being developed as a limited series by Charlotte Stoudt and Minkie Spiro, of New Pictures, who also made Fosse/Verdon.

Kate Summerscale is recorded as having received Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Edgar Awards and Somerset Maugham Award. Recognition and collections. Summerscale received Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Edgar Awards, Somerset Maugham Award and Baillie Gifford Prize.