Set during the rein of Queen Victoria, Charles Lennox, second son of a Lord, and member of Parliament, is asked by his brother to take on a mission of spying for his country. After he agrees he finds out that his wife is pregnant with their first child and almost backs out. But coaxed by his wife and assured he will return before the blessed day arrives, he boards a ship and sets sail for Egypt.

Before twenty four hours pass though, a man is found murdered, gutted from throat to bowels in the early hours of the morning. Having worked as an amateur detective before joing parliament, Charles is asked by the captain to investigate the murder and he dives in, enjoying the return to the life of solving crime.

The story is full of details about being on a ship in the English navy during the Victorian era. And uses the sense of everyone being confined to a set space with a murderer on the loose to heighten the sense of intrigue and mystery about the story.

Lenox eventually finds himself worrying about becoming the victim of another murder, and he races to keep everyone on board the boat safe and solve the crime.

mystery lovers who don't mind wading through the omniscient voice of Victorian mystery.

the setting details even though I'm not much of a sailing type person. The details were rich and added to the atmosphere and mood of the storyline.

that the whole story of being a spy was pretty lame and just faded into nothingness. It was almost like a ruse to get him on the boat so he could be confined for a murder to take place.

has continued to write this series about Charles Lennox. He has won or been nominated for several mystery awards.

I'm torn about whether to recommend this series or not. I've read several, so that would seem to suggest that I like them, but every time I finish one I say I'm not going to read another ... but I always do.

They are written in omniscient voice ... but not very well done omniscient voice so it gets in the way of the story line sometimes.

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Created Jan 27, 2015 at 8:00pm • Submit your own review...