Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch (Charles Lenox)

What a wonderful book this was to cozy up with on a cold, blustery day! 

Charles Lennox uses his deductive reasoning skills (slightly reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes) and social graces to get to the heart of a mystery that has a nice surprise ending. The sincere desire of Lenox to get to the truth without overstepping any of the dictates set by social decorum add a nice tension to an already absorbing plot. 

Charles Finch has a particularly enjoyable way of folding London's history into a great mystery with lively characters and great twists without "showing off" his research, as some historical fiction are wont to do. 

The fact that Big Ben has only recently been built and the current political climate of the day are simply observations made by the emminently likeable and affable Lenox make both London and Lenox eminently likable. 

It is also through Lenox that Finch gracefully displays the disparity of London's social pecking order, contrasting Lenox's titled, independantly wealthy status with his servants' (and the servant who is killed in the book) lifestyles. 

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