too little too late

In a review of Kate Summerscale's 2/2009 release of her latest novel that surrounds the demise of a great 19th century detective's reputation when the probable killer of a 3 year old is tried with insufficient evidence to prosecute then 5 years later confesses, blogger SM Elliot draws attention to the sensational media and erroneous public opinion parallels to JonBenet's case--

"The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" by Kate Summerscale
posted by SME
March 20, 2009

"This is a true-crime story about the 1860 murder of 3-year-old Saville Kent in an English country house, investigated by one of London's finest detectives (at that time, still a new and suspect breed of crime-solver). Jonathan [Jack] Whicher had an excellent track record, and would go on to unravel the case of the Tichborne Claimant...

The case has eerie parallels with the JonBenet Ramsey case, another murder involving the brutal death of a child in the child's own upper middle class home. In the 1860s, the public and the media came up with all kinds of half-baked and groundless theories..."

Listen Now to an audio review by NPR's Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan