Mystery fans love to discover a good author with a slew of books. I recently discovered Charles Finch with The Vanishing Man (Minotaur, $26.99), his 12th book about Charles Lenox and second prequel in the series. Then I read the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death (Minotaur, $9.99), then four more in no order--whatever I could immediately find. (Shelf Awareness has reviewed three: The Woman in the Water, Home by Nightfall and The Laws of Murder, all published by Minotaur, $17.99 each)--which makes me doubly embarrassed to have overlooked them.)
The mysteries are a delight. The plots are clever, matched by the prose, the characters and the settings. In Victorian London, Charles Lenox, a gentleman detective, pursues his calling in the face of peer derision and police opposition. He is ably abetted by his butler, Graham, and his beloved wife, Lady Jane. Finch writes with dry wit: a bobby stands guard with "the blankness of his face hiding either boredom or stupidity, or who knew, great internal self-sustaining brilliance...."
In An Old Betrayal (Minotaur, $17.99), the seventh book, Lenox has become a Member of Parliament, but misses detecting. When his protégé, the formerly disreputable son of a duke, John Dallington, asks for help, Lenox accedes, and finds himself pursuing a murderer. As the story progresses, we learn about class distinctions, like the significance of tea with or without lemon and what it signals about gender; the origins of the words "hogwash" and "soup kitchen"; the workings of Parliament. Finch's novels brim with historical and social information, adding to the richness of his stories.
The third and final prequel, The Last Passenger, will be published February 18, 2020, by Minotaur. But, one hopes, it will not be the last of Charles Lenox. For me, there are six books to go--my summer is looking good. --Marilyn Dahl