Customer Reviews

The Fleet Street Murders (Charles Lenox Mysteries)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Charles Finch & his Mr. Lenox have me hooked. "Beautiful Blue Death" was a delight, but "Fleet Street Murders" tops them all. My only disappointment was that the book came to an end & left me hungry for more. (I have the same reaction to chocolate, too.) Charles Finch has given detective Lenox more depth to his gentleman's nature. Lenox feels the grip of being torn by several worlds at one time with his election campaign demands, his love tensions & his desire to solve crime. Other characters such as Toto, Dallington, Dr. McConnell, Jenkins, Edmund & Lady Jane are becoming more complex as well. Even the minor characters have surprising roles to play. The prologue was so concise, that it merited numerous re-reads as the tale unfolded. In addition to plot, characters & suspense, the book also illuminates the history of the period with flavorful bits of information about architecture, government & travel. Like any good chocoholic, I am fiending for the next book. What a sweet treat, "The Fleet Street Murders", has been & I can hardly wait for the next book!!!

Another excellent story in the Charles Lenox series. This one is the third. The plot is a little more involved in this one--more lines, I think, than in the last two.

Followers of the series will remember that at the end of the second installment--The September Society--Lenox proposed marriage to Lady Jane Grey and was asked to stand for a seat in Parliament. Here, despite the pressures of campaigning in a rural area, he is trying to keep abreast of the developments in two seemingly linked murders back in London and maintain his relationship with Lady Jane.

I can highly recommend this book. I certainly hope Mr. Finch continues to favour us with the Lenox series.

This latest installment of Mr Finch's wonderful hero, Carles Lenox, is a well-crafted story with rich characterization and smooth plot twists. A couple of previous story lines are tied up in this novel, some of which are rather surprising. The love interest is a bit mysterious in itself. I think that Lenox's fiancée might have some sexual "issues," but the genre that Mr Finch has adopted makes delving into that realm out-of-bounds. Still, the mystery is a satisfying page-turner, well-written and captivating.

I read A Beautiful Blue Death and The September Society (the two previous Charles Lenox mysteries) last year, and loved both. This third book didn't disappoint my expectations. There are actually two plotlines in the book - in one Lenox tracks down the murderers of a pair of journalists, and in the other he stands for Parliament in a remote English town he's never even been to (which is apparently pretty common). By the end I didn't know which story I cared about more, which is a good thing.

As always with Finch the book is incredibly evocative of Victorian London - the streetlamps, the morning tea, the parties, the cobblestones. All good books are an escape but this series somehow feels even more escapist, because the world is vivid and well-drawn, and the characters moving within it seem so real.

A must-read - I can't wait for the fourth.

Amateur sleuth (Now called private investigators) Charles Lennox is busy and torn in different directions. Two men in London of 1866 are killed minutes apart. Winston Caruthers, writer and editor of the conservative Daily Telegraph and Simon Pierce who worked for the liberal Daily News are the victims. Besides working for newspapers, the only other thing they had in common is each testified against Jonathan Poole, a traitor to England. Inspector Exeter believes Hiram Smith killed them, but he dies in his jail cell in what looks like a suicide.

Exeter arrests Poole's son, but there are people close to the case who believe the inspector has the wrong man in custody again. They ask Charles to look into the matter, but he has no time to take on the complex homicides because he is running for Minster of Parliament from Stirrington. His opponent uses dirty tricks to win by a hundred votes so Charles turns back to the case and begins to put the puzzle pieces together until he believes he knows who the culprit is, but lacks proof. Trying to catch evidence against a diabolical killer puts Charles in harms way with the distinct potential of being the next investigation for Exeter to bungle.

Charles Finch writes about the birth of Scotland Yard and how the police there change their methodology to meet their mandate. Amateur sleuths, the forerunners of private investigators, used whatever was available in mid nineteenth century London to solve cases. Charles is one of them, but works closely with Scotland Yard to bring down the shadowy puppeteer pulling everyone's strings. This is an entertaining Victorian mystery as the audience and Mr. Lennox try to solve who is behind the homicides and why. Fans will want to read Charles' previous investigations (see A BEAUTIFUL BLUE DEATH and SEPTEMBER SOCIETY).

Harriet Klausner

I have a saying, "There are too many good books out there to read instead of spending your time on a bad one". The Fleet Street Murders is a good book right from the start. Great characters, story line, and fun to read. I highly recommend it.

In the third book in Finch's neo-Victorian series, "The Fleet Street Murders," Charles Lenox returns with his warm circle of friends, his invaluable servant Graham, and a new mystery to solve. The mystery, that of the murder of two Fleet Street journalists, plays a bit of a secondary role to the other events in Lenox's life. His personal life is going a bit astray, as Lady Jane Grey voices concerns about their upcoming wedding, his friends Toto and Thomas face another challenge in their marriage, and Lenox makes his first attempt to enter Parliament. Thankfully, Graham is there to help Lenox through these struggles.

As always, Finch delivers the story in an immensely readable fashion. The joy is in the details, particularly when Lenox spends time in the northern town of Stirrington, which he hopes will launch his political career. The description of the town and its people is enough to make the reader feel as if they are there with Lenox, drinking the beer, eating the roasted beef sandwiches, and shaking hands with the locals.

Perhaps the best part is that it is not all roses and sunshine for Lenox, which makes him identifiable as a character and the story more accessible. The murders also bring back into play George Bernard, a character who is extremely easy to dislike.

Finch deftly weaves a lot of plot elements into this narrative without crowding the story or losing focus. At the end you are left thankful for fireplaces and tea, and hopeful that many more Lenox books will be forthcoming!

The third book in the Charles Lenox mystery series opens with Lenox celebrating a quiet Christmas at home with his family and new fiancée the night two well-known journalists are murdered. The morning papers bring news of the brutal killings, and Lenox, being the detective that he is, is soon working connections. Before he is able to become fully involved in the case, he is called away to Stirrington, a small town north of London. Following in both his father's and brother's footsteps, Lenox has decided to run for public office. Unfortunately, he was not expecting to be thrown into the campaign so soon and is torn between investigating the case and running for a seat in Parliament.

Once in Stirrington, he keeps an eye on the case by telegram. Many things about it worry him --- the most of all being that he's not in London to investigate firsthand. To further complicate matters, he finds campaigning difficult and not at all what he expected. When a letter arrives from his fiancée, Lady Jane Grey, asking to postpone their wedding, he decides that a short trip back to London to speak with her in person is what he needs. Thankfully, this also allows him to put off campaigning and look in on the case.

Although he doesn't find out much regarding the case, he manages to keep his young protégé, Dallington, busy answering plenty of questions and combing a few backstreets for information. The short respite in London provides Lenox with the opportunity for him and Jane to discuss her recent change of heart. After a long talk, they find themselves feeling better about their future. When Lenox once again decamps to Stirrington to campaign, his heart is in the right place even if his mind is still mulling over who would want to murder two journalists.

Debates and campaign events begin to solidify Lenox's thoughts on running for office, and he finds he has more talent for it than he thought. After winning the debate and a few friends --- thanks to the purchasing of several pints of beer in the town --- he believes that he has a shot at winning and throws himself full force into campaigning. He also begins to understand why his brother, who holds his deceased father's seat in Parliament, is so interested in his being a Member. After the election is over, Lenox returns to London and throws himself back into the case.

On the train ride home, Lenox has a revelation. He sets out to prove his unpopular theory, solve the murders --- and possibly bring closure to several unsolved cases he has been following for years. When a Scotland Yard Investigator is murdered, Lenox recognizes the time has come to reveal what he knows and is aware that proving a member of high society is a murderer will not be easy.

THE FLEET STREET MURDERS is a quiet but entertaining mystery. A long cast of characters keeps you wondering where fingers will be pointed, who is capable of the murders, and why they would have gone to those lengths to begin with. Lenox is a likable if Sherlock Holmes-y type of detective who believes that there is always an answer to be found if one looks hard enough. There is something very earnest in what he does, even though others look down upon his chosen profession.

In the end, the case, Lenox's love life and the outcome of the campaign are wrapped up very neatly. While it's not something I usually care for in a book, I found it rather satisfying here. The story meanders a bit, and the campaigning is a little slow going at first, but it was nice to see the tidy conclusion that wraps up the loose ends. Clues and information are parsed out slowly, and, while some hardcore mystery fans may be able to figure things out before the last page, I found it a pleasurable read for an autumn evening. A good choice for both longtime mystery fans and newcomers to the genre.

--- Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski

This book by Finch is a quick read, but it keeps your interest. The main character, a detective, is interesting and he does good work and not work that you cannot imagine. In other words, he is a human character, not an inflated type of person.

I enjoyed reading it.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

This is the first book that I've read by Charles Finch and this book produced! I enjoyed the story, the characters were 3-dimensional and I'm looking forward to reading more of his books.