The Arnifour Affair

November 11, 2013
Harris’s competent debut, the first in a late-Victorian mystery series, introduces Colin Pendragon, an aristocratic gay sleuth who matches Sherlock Holmes in his arrogance. Lady Arnifour seeks Pendragon’s help because she’s dissatisfied with the Scotland Yard investigation into the recent murder of her husband and the near-fatal beating of her niece, Elspeth, both found in a barn on the family estate just outside London. A second case involves the search for a street urchin whose brother has begged for help. That case stirs painful memories for Pendragon’s partner, Ethan Pruitt, a former child thief and opium addict. Pendragon’s housekeeper, the outspoken Mrs. Behmoth, provides some comic relief, but readers may find her too like her sneering employer. Pendragon is rude to Lady Arnifour, insulting to her children, and contemptuous of the police. He is redeemed, in part, by his brains and his gentle treatment of Pruitt. Agent: Kathy Green, Kathy Green Agency.

December 1, 2013
A pair of Victorian sleuths step into a hornet's nest of family secrets. When Lady Arnifour hires private detectives Colin Pendragon and Ethan Pruitt to investigate the death of her husband, the Earl of Arnifour, and an attack on her niece, Elsbeth, Colin senses at once that his client's motive has little to do with love for her husband. She seems more interested in protecting the primary suspects, groundskeeper Victor Heffernan and his son Nathaniel. When the case turns into a double murder, Colin and Ethan broaden their investigation to include Arnifour's mistress, his drunken heir, his suffragist daughter and his business partner. Along the way, a young street urchin hoping to find his missing sister plays on Ethan's sympathies. His pleas have a special resonance for Ethan, for although his own family was as genteel as Colin's, Ethan spent years on the street and in a nightmare of opium addiction until Colin rescued him. The more they investigate the two convoluted cases, the more Ethan risks backsliding, even with the support of Colin, who is more than his partner in this slanted homage to Sherlock Holmes. Colin has Holmes' arrogance but is dimpled and charming, while Ethan is a darker Watson. The author, however, is no Conan Doyle. Harris' debut is written with a blithe disregard for historical authenticity and a tin ear for period dialogue. Although the relationship between the leads is discreetly intriguing, most of the rest of the characters don't raise either a chuckle or a tear.

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