Summerscale, Kate

"In East London in the summer of 1895, Robert Coombes (age thirteen) and his brother Nattie (age twelve) were arrested for matricide and sent for trial at the Old Bailey. Robert confessed to having stabbed his mother, but his lawyers argued that he was insane. The judge sentenced him to detention in Broadmoor, the most infamous criminal lunatic asylum in the land. Shockingly, Broadmoor turned out to be the beginning of a new life for Robert"--OCLC.

Recounts the events surrounding the 1830 murder of three-year-old Saville Kent and explores the police investigation into the crime, which led to family members becoming prime suspects, while local residents began to doubt the efficiency of the lead investigator as the crime went unsolved for years.