Charles Finch, A Beautiful Blue Death

A Beautiful Blue Death

Charles Finch

St. Martin's, July 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 0312359772

In 1865 London, Prudence Smith, a maid at the home of the director of the Royal Mint George Barnard, dies. Scotland Yard believes she committed suicide by taking poison. Prue's previous employer Lady Jane Grey refuses to accept that the young vivacious Prue Smith killed herself. She pleads with her best friend Charles Lenox to investigate the death. Charles prefers to drink tea while reading a book in his den, but reluctantly agrees to look into Prue's death, although that means leaving the comfort of home for field work. He only acquiesce for his life long friend Jane.

Lenox quickly finds evidence that punches holes in the official ruling, as the poison proves to be an exotic, difficult to find and to expensive for a maid to obtain; he believes someone murdered Prue. However, the police detectives ridicule the armchair sleuth, while Barnard ignores his homicide theory. The private sleuth, with the aid of his butler Graham, decides who the person with a jealousy motive and having the means of obtaining the poison and the opportunity to use it most likely is, but Lenox is stunned when his prime suspect becomes victim number two.

A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH is a superb Victorian mystery, starring a reluctant debonair hero whose preference is to be a couch potato rather than a field detective. The whodunit is cleverly designed so as Lenox finds a clue he ends up taking either a sidestep or two steps backwards as his case is far from linear, as he had initially believed when he drew a jealousy line from the victim to the men salivating after her. The historical tidbits that make 1865 England come to life actually enhance the investigation that will elate sub-genre fans, as Charles Finch provides a great first act.