Book Recommendation: The Charles Lenox Series

 

If you are looking for something new to read and like 19th century English settings, you may want to try out the Charles Lenox seris from Charles Finch. Here's a quick summary of the series from the publihser:

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But he can't pass up a good mystery, and this amateur sleuth is often called on to leave his comforts behind in the pursuit of clues. Follow him into the public houses, Mayfair mansions and servants’ quarters of Victorian London, into the intrigues of Parliament and secrets of Oxford. This historical mystery series, with its keen eye for period detail and razor-sharp plotting, offers readers an unparalleled brand of charm, sophistication and suspense.

I enjoy them because they are smart, a bit fun, and show the details of upper crust living in 1860's London.

The first book in the series is "A Beautiful Blue Death." Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about it

Set in England in 1865, Finch's impressive debut introduces an appealing gentleman sleuth, Charles Lenox. When Lady Jane Grey's former servant, Prue Smith, dies in an apparent suicide-by-poisoning, Lady Jane asks Lenox, her closest friend, to investigate. The attractive young maid had been working in the London house of George Barnard, the current director of the Royal Mint. Lenox quickly determines that Smith's death was a homicide, but both Barnard and Scotland Yard resist that conclusion, forcing him to work discreetly. Aided by his Bunter-like butler and friend, Graham, the detective soon identifies a main suspect, only to have that theory shattered by that man's murder. Finch laces his writing with some Wodehousian touches and devises a solution intricate enough to fool most readers. Lovers of quality historical whodunits will hope this is the first in a series.