“‘There’s a dead cat in my son’s room at college… that’s the root of all the problems.’”

Having just finished The Dictionary of Lost Words, it was a surprise to be back in the Oxford setting during the 1800s. It was unplanned but fortuitous as my imagination was practiced in this setting and I gained even more knowledge about the university and the Bodleian.

I have read the first book in this series, A Beautiful Blue Death, and the 11th- An Extravagant Death. While I’m not sure if I liked this book better than either of those, it was still a decent read. If you don’t like Victorian England set mysteries with an independent detective who has a doctor friend…. like Sherlock…. then you will probably be bored.

But if you know what kind of read you’re getting into, you settle in and watch the master at work. I do think I waited too long in between books one and two. It’s not necessarily a series I would want to read back to back to back til it’s over, but you don’t want to wait too long in between each one. They’re pretty quick reads to squeeze in.


The main character, Lenox’s personality is not as flamboyant or brash as thee Sherlock, but I’m okay with that. One reviewer called Lenox too needy, but I kind of like that for something different.

It seems more popular to create a main character who is either super needy and mentally unstable, paranoid, etc, or a character who is super self-sufficient who needs nothing and no one and views relationships as a weakness. I think Lenox strikes the right balance of unique skills and independence, but a right desire for a family and companionship.


So about the cat… yes, the cat stabbed through with a letter opener in the college dorm was the primary signpost that something was amiss in George’s disappearance. That is the only animal death, but it was a little less than subtle.

Mr. Charles Lenox, detective, is on the case and happy to be back at Oxford.

“There were only a few things Lenox took special pride in, but as he read the Times he realized that Oxford was one of them, and told himself that if he couldn’t solve this case he might as well retire.”

The author of this book, Charles Finch, went to Oxford and it shows. It reads almost like a tribute to the school and we learn a lot about how things work there. You can’t help but see some of the similarities with Harry Potter (which isn’t surprising, just interesting.)

Lenox, then, is solving the mystery of the two missing boys, and eventually turns into a murder case when a body is found days later. Clues keep turning up pointing to the mysterious September Society and Lenox has to connect the dots before it’s too late.


This book was a little reminiscent of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides. The Maidens is a modern murder mystery of a student at Cambridge that also includes a secret society.


As is typical of Charles Finch books and what I like about historical fiction novels- you learn stuff! Here are a few things from this book:

agony column: a section of the newspaper for personal advertisements seeking advice or writing about missing relatives

swan song: there is some debate on when this originated; swans are said to not make noise until they ‘sing’ right before their death; Finch includes this bit but associates with the old British law that all swans belonged to the Crown and she would round them up at Christmas to serve at her feasts. 1998 was the year it was no longer an act of treason to eat a swan, however, swans are no longer a popular choice of food.

ballistics: Finch brings in a character who studies ballistics, which is a very new thing during this time (looking at a bullet’s grooves to determine which gun shot it, etc) I tried to find more on this during this time period but looks like it was going to take more time than I had, but interesting to think about the origins of the processes we take for granted today


Recommendation

If you like a good cozy mystery or a mystery set in Victorian England, this series is a definite must for you!

If you prefer more intense or darker mysteries, then you may be bored by this.

It pretty much just boils down to that.


[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content; death of a pet]