Against the Light

October 28, 2013
This stately standalone from Eccles (After Clare) hinges on a long-buried secret from the Second Boer War. In rural 1927 Worcestershire, that conflict is nearly forgotten, although it’s recalled in the late Osbert Rees-Talbot’s unfinished memoirs. His grown daughter, Margaret, though stricken by the loss of her father, is planning her wedding to the Rev. Symon Scroope, who grew up on the nearby estate of Maxstead Court. The discovery of an unidentified man’s body in the snow on Maxstead land results in the brief, unwanted attention of the police. The subsequent death of factory owner Arthur Anton, who was Rees-Talbot’s batman during the Boer War, in the nearby village of Folbury brings Det. Insp. Herbert Reardon to town. The thoughtful, scarred Reardon eventually arrives at some answers, but flaccid characters and a slow-moving plot diminish the impact of these revelations.

September 15, 2016
Eccles' latest historical mystery is set in London in 1912, when tensions were high between those who favored the Irish Home Rule bill and those who strongly opposed Irish independence. Edmund Latimer, a cabinet minister, is in the thick of the debate, so he has little time to worry about his wife, Alice, who is caught up in her own life, being a practicing physician who loves her work and doesn't mind that Edmund is away much of the time. But tragedy strikes when the Latimer's infant niece, Lucy, is kidnapped. In what seems a totally unrelated case, DI Gaines and DS Inskip of Scotland Yard are investigating the murder of an unidentified man knifed in a taxi. But that case goes on the back burner when the coppers are assigned to Lucy's kidnapping. As they investigate, they begin to suspect the kidnapping may be linked to Latimer's political views. Eccles captures the ambience of early twentieth-century London and offers a whodunit full of intrigue, unexpected twists, colorful characters, and a surprising conclusion.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)