At one point in this book, the fourth of Charles Finch’s mysteries featuring amateur detective Charles Lenox, one character brings another a stack of magazines full of crime stories. “It’s what I always read when I’m sick,” he says; “Somehow having a fever makes them even more exciting.” (271) This is about how I feel about mysteries – perfect for when I’m either sick (I’ve been getting over a cold this week) or frazzled or distracted. I’ve been on a Charles Finch/Charles Lenox spree lately, though after this one I feel like I might be ready for a break before I start reading the next one. Not that this one’s a bad book: it was pretty exciting, and while some keys to the solution of the mystery were obvious quite early in the story, there’s enough that isn’t quite wrapped up until the end to keep things interesting. As with the other books, the setting of 1860s London is pretty pleasing, though I found this book more action-driven and less atmospheric than some of the others in this series.
So, the plot: Charles Lenox has just come back from his honeymoon and the fall session of Parliament is about to start. He thinks he’s ready to move away from detection to his new career in politics, but when a case comes his way, he ends up not being able to let it go. He’s sitting at home one day when an acquaintance who’s also in Parliament shows up: it’s a man named Ludo Starling, and he tells Lenox that Freddie Clarke, a 19-year-old footman in the Starling household, has been bludgeoned to death in an alley behind the house. He asks Lenox if he’ll take on the case; Lenox at first wavers but then says he’ll have a look. And then, just a day or two later, Starling tells Lenox not to bother, actually, because Scotland Yard has everything in hand. But Lenox won’t be put off that easily: he’s collaborated with the Yard in the past and would be happy to do that again, and by now his curiosity is piqued. When he and his apprentice go to have a look at the scene of the crime, they find that Clarke seems not to have been a typical footman. He’s been reading Hegel, for one thing, and he has a fancy tailored suit in his closet. So Lenox and his apprentice keep on investigating, despite repeated requests from the Starling family to drop the matter. There’s intrigue and danger and violence, an arrest and a false confession, and all of it’s enough to make Lenox wonder if detecting isn’t more his vocation than politics is, after all.
The prose is sometimes cheesy—with a little too much emphasis on intrigue and danger, like the sentences below—
Though Lenox had a day full of meetings tomorrow to look forward too, he felt a slight pang. Was this as close as he would get, from now on? What about the midnight chase and the hot trail? Were they left to Dallington now?
Little did Lenox know how involved he would soon become, and how close to home danger would strike. (36-37)
but I still had fun with this book, and am still pretty pleased with this series.
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