Bloomsbury buys Kate Summerscale title on the Rillington Place murders

Bloomsbury has snapped up a new book from Kate Summerscale, titled The Peepshow: The Murders at 10 Rillington Place.

Jasmine Horsey, editorial director for Bloomsbury Trade, bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Georgia Garrett at RCW, while North American rights were sold by Melanie Jackson to Virginia Smith Younce at Penguin Press. Bloomsbury will publish the book on 3rd October 2024.

The blurb reads: “The Peepshow transports readers to post-war London, where in 1953 police discovered the bodies of three young women hidden in a wall at 10 Rillington Place. On searching the Notting Hill building, they found another body beneath the floorboards, then an array of human bones in the garden. But they had already investigated a double murder at 10 Rillington Place, three years before, and the killer was hanged. Had they got the wrong man?”

The synopsis continues: “In this riveting true story, Kate Summerscale mines the archives to uncover the lives of Christie’s victims, the tabloid frenzy that their deaths inspired, and the truth about what happened inside the house. What she finds sheds fascinating light on the origins of our fixation with true crime, and suggests a new solution to one of the most notorious cases of the century.”

Summerscale is the author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Bloomsbury Paperbacks), which won the Samuel Johnson Prize and was later adapted into an ITV drama starring Peter Capaldi. Her other books include The Queen of Whale Cay (Bloomsbury Paperbacks), Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace (Bloomsbury Paperbacks) and The Haunting of Alma Fielding (Bloomsbury), which was shortlisted for the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize. To date her books have sold more than 600,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM.

The author has also judged several literary prizes, including the Booker Prize, and in 2010 she was appointed a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. “I’m thrilled that The Peepshow will be coming out in the autumn,” she said. “It’s been an intense book to research and write, and it’s wonderful to be completing it with the brilliant team at Bloomsbury.”

Horsey added: “With its rich cast of characters, impeccable archival research and gripping storytelling, The Peepshow is Kate Summerscale at her finest. We couldn’t be prouder to bring it to readers later this year.”