A Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch is the first book in his Charles Lenox mysteries. Charles Lenox is a gentleman living in Victorian England who prefers to spend his time reading obscure literature and histories as he plans to venture around the world to visit historical sights. His reality is more that of a part time detective who likes to help those around him. When his lifelong friend and neighbor, Lady Jane, comes to him with a problem he decides to help. Her former maid, Prudence Smith, has been found of what appears to be a suicide. Intrigued, he requests the help of Mr. McConnell, a fellow gentleman and retired doctor, to investigate the body. Prudence’s current employer, Barnard, is rather reluctant to consider anything other than a suicide and is determined to prevent Lenox from investigating. This merely makes Lenox even more determined to figure out the truth, especially when McConnell reveals she died of a different poison than what was found in the room with the body. As he pursues the case he has limited suspects though they include Barnard and his various houseguests which include several fellow government employees and his two nephews.
I ended up rather liking this book as it felt more like old school detective fiction where the detective relied more upon deductive reasoning than upon luck or anything else. A bit of a relief honestly considering what I frequently see in the mystery genre. It was also very well done and it did a good job of showing how one goes about methodically working to try and solve the case. Mind you there were a few things that I found rather surprising. A big one was the close friendship between Lenox and his butler, Graham. I am fairly certain this would have been rather out of character for the time period. At the same time it also makes sense for this to be present considering it seems to be aiming for at least some parallel with Sherlock Holmes. The story was good and it did a good job of keeping me guessing due to how convoluted the mystery was. I can honestly say that I didn’t see the ending coming but I will also admit that I wasn’t necessarily trying to either as I was mostly just enjoying the story. It was interesting how we actually get to see quite a bit about the detective as well. There was considerable backstory sprinkled in throughout the story which was somewhat remarkable considering how short the story was as well. It was definitely an enjoyable read and it easily held my attention. I am looking forward to seeing how this series will develop in later volumes. It gets four out of five volumes from me.
This book is a mystery, specifically a murder mystery, that also happens to be historical fiction due to it being set in the Victorian Period as well. If either of those grab your attention, or perhaps both, then you should really consider trying this one out. I found it to be pretty good. The book is aimed at adult readers but it also is not overly graphic even with the murders so I would feel pretty comfortable recommending it to younger readers but probably not any younger than about fifteen. A good book that seems to be starting what will be a good series so consider trying it out. If you do, consider sharing your thoughts in the comments.