early in the morning of monday 8 july 1895 thirteenyearold robert coombes and his twelveyearold brother nattie set out from their small yellowbrick terraced house in east london to watch a cricket match at lords their father had gone to sea the previous friday the boys told their neighbours and their mother was visiting her family in liverpool over the next ten days robert and nattie spent extravagantly pawning their parents valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside but as the sun beat down on the coombes house a strange smell began to emanate from the building when the police were finally called to investigate the discovery they made sent the press into a frenzy of horror and alarm and robert and nattie were swept up in a criminal trial that echoed the outrageous plots of the penny dreadful novels that robert loved to read in the wicked boy kate summerscale has uncovered a fascinating true story of murder and morality it is not just a meticulous examination of a shocking victorian case but also a compelling account of its aftermath and of mans capacity to overcome the past