We return to Victorian England with The September Society, book two of the Charles Lenox mysteries by Charles Finch. It picks up about a year after the end of the first book when Lenox is approached by Lady Annabelle, an acquaintance of his. Lady Annabelle is a widow whose husband passed away years ago when her son was still an infant. Her son is now grown up and attending college at Oxford and it is because of her son that she is meeting with Lenox. After a brief visit the day before and making arrangements for a longer visit later that day her son, George Payson, has disappeared. While unusual on its own it becomes weirder with the reveal that his cat was found dead in his rooms at the same time. Curious Lenox agrees to investigate and travels to Oxford where he discovers that a close friend of Payson’s has also gone mysteriously missing. The few clues that Lenox finds all seem to point in the direction of an unusual club known only as the September Society. However, things get dangerous when an armed assailant visits Lady Jane’s house threatening Lenox to leave the case and a student is found dead of what looks to be foul play.
Every bit as good as the first book the mystery is just as circuitous with the ending and reveal just as unexpected. I found myself wondering just what would happen next though I will also admit that there were several things that I had figured out before the actual reveal. What was interesting was how this book differed from the previous one. A big difference was obviously the difference in location since Lenox has to travel back and forth between Oxford and London in this book while the previous book takes place almost entirely in London. At the same time Lenox also still relies heavily on his close friend, McConnell, throughout the story as well as his butler Graham for certain things outside of his wheelhouse. The one big thing I wasn’t sure about was the changing relationship with Lady Jane. Lenox spends the whole book planning to ask her to marry him since he has suddenly realized, or admitted, that he is in love with her. After the first book I was rather hoping for that to stay just a close friendship since you so rarely see that in literature. The development is not bad since that was just my personal preference anyway but again not what I was wanting. It did provide an extra element of humor though to watch as Lenox keeps bumbling his way through his interactions with Jane in a way that was not present before. I ended up still enjoying the story overall and am happy with this addition to the series. It gets four out of five stars from me.
A pretty good mystery with elements of historical fiction due to the setting being in Victorian England. It should appeal to anybody who likes a good mystery. Despite the murder that is present there is little violence or anything else graphic and no adult content to really be worried about. While primarily aimed at adults I could see this being read and enjoyed by readers as young as about fourteen without any major issues arising. This book is part of a series but you can very easily read this one without having read the previous book, though I would still recommend reading the previous one just for the extra background information on a few things. Overall a good book that is worth considering so if you decide to try it feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.