The Laws of Murder: A Charles Lenox Mystery

Book eight in Finch’s series featuring Charles Lennox (after An Old Betrayal) finds the Victorian gentleman-turned-detective and his associates—Lord John Dallington, Polly Strickland Buchanan, and the French detective LeMaire—the target of slanderous attack by a powerful rival detective agency taking scurrilous steps to wipe them out, including publishing false criticisms of Lennox by Scotland Yard detective Jenkins, a man thought to be his friend. Still, when Jenkins is murdered, Lennox is quick to investigate, ignoring the deadly threats against him. Reader Langton’s crisp, well-born delivery matches the charm and pervading upper-class Victorian gentility of Finch’s text perfectly. His skillful verbal portrait of Lennox presents an open-minded gent whose self-confidence begins to falter when his new business gets off to a rocky start, though he reasserts himself once he is on the hunt for a vicious murderer. His pal and protégé, John Dallington, speaks with a voice that’s a bit dithery but good-natured. Polly is as precise and clear-spoken as she is dedicated. LeMaire sounds more French than François Hollande. And there is a long list of vocally well-developed characters, from Lennox’s frozen-tongued manservant to a curiously antagonistic mother superior at a convent of cloistered nuns. A Minotaur hardcover. (Nov.)