Author: Charles Finch
Published: November 11th 2014 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Charles Lenox Mysteries #8
First Sentence: A late winter’s night in London: the city hushed; the last revelers half an hour in their beds; a new snow softening every dull shade of gray and brown into angelic whiteness.
From the Publisher: It's 1876, and Charles Lenox, once London's leading private investigator, has just given up his seat in Parliament after six years, primed to return to his first love, detection. With high hopes he and three colleagues start a new detective agency, the first of its kind. But as the months pass, and he is the only detective who cannot find work, Lenox begins to question whether he can still play the game as he once did.
Then comes a chance to redeem himself, though at a terrible price: a friend, a member of Scotland Yard, is shot near Regent's Park. As Lenox begins to parse the peculiar details of the death – an unlaced boot, a days-old wound, an untraceable luggage ticket – he realizes that the incident may lead him into grave personal danger, beyond which lies a terrible truth. (Minotaur)
My Opinion: For me, the previous books in this series have been rough going. In the past, for every three steps forward in the ongoing investigation, Charles Finch would pull back and go into monotonous descriptions of the times, clothing, or room décor. This book, The Laws of Murder, felt different. This outing, the investigation stayed on track, the subtle hints pointed you in the right direction, the scandal was relevant for the time and today, and the verbal interplay between Charles and Lady Jane was both entertaining and charming.
As I slowly make my way through this series, I am beginning to appreciate it more. Hopefully, in the future, the author will continue to stay focused on the mystery at hand while steering away from his previous need to describe wallpaper.
From the Publisher: It's 1876, and Charles Lenox, once London's leading private investigator, has just given up his seat in Parliament after six years, primed to return to his first love, detection. With high hopes he and three colleagues start a new detective agency, the first of its kind. But as the months pass, and he is the only detective who cannot find work, Lenox begins to question whether he can still play the game as he once did.
Then comes a chance to redeem himself, though at a terrible price: a friend, a member of Scotland Yard, is shot near Regent's Park. As Lenox begins to parse the peculiar details of the death – an unlaced boot, a days-old wound, an untraceable luggage ticket – he realizes that the incident may lead him into grave personal danger, beyond which lies a terrible truth. (Minotaur)
My Opinion: For me, the previous books in this series have been rough going. In the past, for every three steps forward in the ongoing investigation, Charles Finch would pull back and go into monotonous descriptions of the times, clothing, or room décor. This book, The Laws of Murder, felt different. This outing, the investigation stayed on track, the subtle hints pointed you in the right direction, the scandal was relevant for the time and today, and the verbal interplay between Charles and Lady Jane was both entertaining and charming.
As I slowly make my way through this series, I am beginning to appreciate it more. Hopefully, in the future, the author will continue to stay focused on the mystery at hand while steering away from his previous need to describe wallpaper.
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