This is the second book of this series with Detective Charles Lenox. Lenox lives in London and it's 1866. His best friend, and love of his life, Lady Jane, lives next door to him. This is actually the book where Lenox acknowledges that he loves Lady Jane as more than a friend and that he wants her to be his wife. It takes him the entire book to get his nerve up to express his feelings to her though. ;)
What I love about Lenox is that he is not easily rattled in his detective work. He seems to take everything in stride. He gets woken up at 4am and he simply gets up, gets dressed, and goes downstairs to meet his unexpected visitor. In this case, it's Lady Annabelle Payson. Her son George has gone missing at Oxford. Lady Annabelle had also discovered George's cat, dead, in his room. I find it interesting that Lady Annabelle doesn't involve the police in this matter - and neither does Lenox. He simply takes a train to Oxford, his old stomping grounds, to see what he can discover. I am not sure if this is the way things were actually handled in the 1800's in London, or if it just makes these stories more interesting.... Of course the police (Scotland Yard) is eventually called in after George's dead body is discovered in one of the college's courtyards.
Lenox is a man of clues and lists. He simply writes down each clue and studies it. He has a couple of helpers in his sleuthing. His butler, Graham, helps him by questioning servants and other people of his similar "station" in life. Servants know a lot about what goes on around them! Graham is Lenox' "Holmes" so to speak. We also get introduced to a new helper in this book. His name is Dallington. He is the third (screw-up) son of a prominent family. He comes to Lenox to ask him if he can be Lenox' detective apprentice. Dallington has decided that being a detective is what he is called to do. Lenox likes Dallington, despite his drinking and womanizing, and agrees to this new arrangement. There is also Lenox' best friend, Thomas, who is a doctor (and alcoholic) who always assists with the medical issues surrounding each death. So, Lenox is building a solid team.
Lenox is also extremely interested in politics and has always wanted to be a part of the London Parliament, like his older brother. I am not exactly knowledgeable about the 1860's British government, but it is discussed quite a bit in these books. I read it all, but the political activities and parties that are important to Lenox don't really sink into my brain. Ha!
Anyway, Lenox' mission in this book is to find two missing young men, George Payson and his best friend, Bill Dabney, and then figure out how their disappearance connects to a military "club" called The September Society. These current events also connect to a previous death of an officer in the military (murder? suicide?) from 19 years ago. Lenox is successful in this mission. ;)
Wendy's Rating: ****
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