The Woman in the Water, A Charles Lenox Prequel

November 13, 2017
Set in 1850, Finch’s uneven 11th novel starring aristocratic London sleuth Charles Lenox (after 2016’s The Inheritance) recounts Lenox’s first serious inquiry, undertaken when he was just 23. Lenox and Graham, his Bunter-like valet (“who every fifteen days or so let slip a small joke at his employer’s expense”), routinely peruse the papers for crime stories. An anonymous letter-writer to one newspaper boasts of having committed the perfect murder and of his intention to kill a second woman around the first crime’s one-month anniversary. The pair deduce that the writer refers to the unsolved strangulation of an unidentified woman found on an island in the Thames, and Lenox uses his family connections to get access to Sir Richard Mayne, the head of Scotland Yard, and a role in the investigation. Finch supplies an extremely clever solution to the murder mystery, but the dynamic between Lenox and his servants can feel more farcical than realistic, and describing the 19th century as the one “in which murder became a real notion” is ill-phrased, at best. Still, this entry will please series fans. Agents: Kari Stuart and Jennifer Joel, ICM.

December 1, 2017
The prequel to the career of astute Victorian private detective Charles Lenox.Our detective has just turned 23 at the start of Finch's (The Inheritance, 2016, etc.) 11th mystery. Lenox is determined to begin his career as a private detective, hoping to find his first big case from the multitude of crime stories in London's newspapers. When a letter shows up in the Challenger boasting of the perfect crime, Lenox and his school friend-turned-valet, Graham, at first believe it a hoax until they connect the dots to an unsolved murder from a few weeks prior. A woman, strangled, washed up in a wooden box on Walnut Island, and no one has reported her missing. Even though Lenox's gentleman-detective vibe is a source of mockery at Scotland Yard, he takes his findings to the chief right away. He can't risk a second "perfect" murder, which, if the Challenger letter is to be believed, will happen at any moment. Lenox's Sherlock-ian methods of deduction keep the narrative charged, and his soberness surrounding murder is a welcome touch: "this woman had lived; she had breathed as they all breathed here upon Bankside now; now she was gone. That must count for something." We're reminded of Lenox's youth as he enjoys society parties and stumbles over his feelings for his close friend Elizabeth, but as Lenox develops a portrait of his murderer, the clouds over London grow darker. Clues point to multiple layers of deception meant--and able--to lead even the most seasoned detective off the trail. Lenox must try to find a hidden weakness behind the illusion of perfection, knowing full well that a mixture of pretension and anger in a person can be a very dangerous one. Lenox has officially reached the big leagues--the conclusion waiting for him is nothing short of chilling.A case with enough momentum to recharge this series and grab new readers with its pull.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from December 1, 2017
After 10 Victorian-era Charles Lenox mysteries, often praised for their character development, Finch provides a prequel. Just turned 23 in 1850, Lenox means to make a career of either travel or detection, his sole interests, a situation his father, a member of Parliament, deems very disappointing. Detection is not considered an appropriate vocation for one of his class, and Lenox has become a laughingstock at Scotland Yard, where his overtures make him known as the gentleman detective. Yet Lenox shows keen instincts for solving crime as he becomes involved in the case of a serial killer who boasts in letters to a London newspaper of committing perfect crimes after murdering two women. With the able assistance of his valet and close friend, Graham, Lenox displays his abilities, earning praise from Scotland Yard's lead investigator. In the midst of this, Lenox confronts his father's terminal illnessexcursions taken by father and son are particularly movingand admits his love for his close friend, Elizabeth, who has recently married another. With its splendidly drawn characters and brisk, supple prose, this can be either an inviting introduction to readers new to Finch's accomplished series or a winning addition to the canon for established fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)