A Christmas Carol Murder

Set in December 1835, Redmond’s workmanlike third Charles Dickens mystery (after 2019’s Grave Expectations) takes Charles, at that time a journalist, to Hertfordshire, where he encounters a woman who claims that her late sister identified Charles as her baby’s father, and insists he assume the infant’s care. Charles returns with little Timothy to London, where he lodges the boy with friends. The next evening, Charles and his fiancée, Kate Hogarth, are caroling when an elderly man with iron chains around his neck falls to his death from a second-story window. The corpse is Jacob Harley, a moneylender who lived with his business partner, Emmanuel Screws. As Charles seeks to find Timothy’s real father, he investigates Harley’s illegitimate son, the owner of the company that made the chains, and the partners’ mysterious American employee. The heavy-handed links to A Christmas Carol feel superfluous, though Redmond nicely blends period details into the storytelling. Cozy fans should enjoy this seasonal fare. Agent: Laurie McLean, Foreword Literary. (Oct.)