There is a lot of creepiness in “The Peepshow,” beginning with the ripped wallpaper on the cover of the book.
Initially, it may seem only as disturbing as any overly fussy, flocked 1940s wallpaper would — until you get to the part of “Peepshow” that describes how, having murdered (at least) four women, John Christie hid them behind the wallpaper in the walls of his rented London flat, or under the floorboards. As Kate Summerscale’s absorbing book points out, he didn’t simply revisit the scene of his crime. He lived in it. For months. While the bodies decomposed.
If, like me, you inhaled Summerscale’s gripping true crime “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher,” your expectations will be high for “The Peepshow.” So I should warn you that “Peepshow” is not quite as riveting as “Suspicions,” an account of a Victorian murder that belongs in the company of true crime masterpieces such as “In Cold Blood.” Still, “Peepshow” is very good.
Summerscale’s calm, sinuous prose seems to take its cues from Christie, who came off as mild-mannered and quiet to everyone but the people he gassed, strangled and hid. She knows the details of the story are ghastly enough that she doesn’t need to strain for effects, so the seeming ordinariness of her prose creates suspense.
Here’s how she describes a threatening encounter between Christie and a woman named Mary who visits his home several times, at a point when three bodies, including his wife Ethel, already were hidden there:
“Nobody would miss her, he repeated. Mary said that she had told a friend his name and address. Christie seemed angry to hear this, but agreed to let her go. She did not visit him again.”
Plenty of books have been written about the Christie murders, which were so notorious that his home, at 10 Rillington Place, became a favorite of looky-loos and his building was ultimately torn down and the street renamed (his story has been adapted into the movie “10 Rillington Place” and the BBC series “Rillington Place”). But Summerscale explores new territory.
One of her smart choices was to include parallel stories of journalists who covered the trial of Christie. The second half of the book is essentially a courtroom drama, alternating between Christie attempting to convince the jury he was insane and the compelling observations of reporters Harry Procter and Fryn Tennyson Jesse (Procter’s paper paid for Christie’s defense, guaranteeing him access to the killer).
