BOOK REVIEW: The Hidden City by Charles Finch

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

About two years ago, I stumbled upon a cozy Victorian mystery series, A Charles Lenox Mystery, and loved the first book, A Beautiful Blue Death. It was an older novel, and there are a dozen in the series, but even though I intended to go on with the series, book 2 never rose to the top of my TBR pile.

I saw the newest book in the series, The Hidden City by Charles Finch, on Netgalley and was eager to read it, even though I’ve missed the books in between. It was delightful to return to the world of the detective, Charles Lenox, a British gentleman with a nose for mysteries. The book can be read as a standalone without detriment to the plot. However, his private life has moved on, and I want to go back now and catch up on that.

Lenox is recovering from a stab wound received during the investigation of his most recent prior case. The brush with death and the ongoing pain have him out of sorts. He is hunkering down, avoiding his colleagues at the detective agency he started. He’s having trouble re-engaging with that part of his life. Maybe feeling his age.

It doesn’t help that a favorite cousin, who made his life in India and lost touch with the family, has recently died. Lenox is named as guardian to his cousin’s twenty-year-old daughter Angela. When Angela’s ship comes in, she is accompanied by a friend, Sari. The two are as close as sisters. They don’t expect to be greeted with the generosity and open-mindedness that Lenox, his wife, and his brother show them. It’s sweet to watch the way they are integrated into the family. Lennox’s wife undertakes the task of introducing them to society, because, of course, it’s important that they find suitable husbands.

At the same time, Lenox receives a letter from his old housekeeper, who is now retired and has returned to London to live near her nephew. The house she is living in was the site of an unsolved murder, years ago, and she has been plagued by strange events that make her worry she might be in danger. She asks him for help. This is not a case he can turn down.

Lenox is a clever investigator and the mystery is complex and intriguing. Tracking down the killer takes Lenox into parts of London that are generally hidden to men of his class.

The two plots progress alongside one another without significantly intersecting. Moreover, the reader gets to see Lenox’s physical and mental recovery from the trauma of his last case.

I enjoyed these books so much that I did go out and buy one of the others in the series and I requested book 2 from the library. So I hope to fill in the gaps!