A Twist of Murder: A Dickens of a Crime Mystery

Redmond’s meandering fifth Dickens of a Crime mystery (after 2021’s The Pickwick Murders) opens in 1836, as 23-year-old Charles Dickens arrives at Harrow on the Hill at the urgent request of his friend William Aga. William’s father owns the Aga Academy for boys, where Charles and William support three charity students who have disappeared. William’s 12-year-old cousin, Agnes, is also missing, and when the housekeeper discovers the girl’s body in the school’s icehouse, Charles winds up investigating a murder, as well as hunting for the missing boys. Impish Agnes had been waving around a “treasure map” before she died. Did someone murder Agnes for the map? Back in London, Charles’s fiancée, Kate Hogarth, and William’s pregnant wife, Julie, decide to go to Harrow to help their men unravel the mystery. But a crisis arises at the school that Charles must deal with, leaving the women to conduct an investigation that may lead not to a treasure but to a murderer. Convincing historical details and appealing characters make up only in part for a plot that wanders all over the place and never seems to lead anywhere. Redmond has done better. Agent: Laurie McLean, Foreword Literary. (Nov.)