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Book Summary and Reviews of A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch

A Death in the Small Hours by Charles Finch

A Death in the Small Hours

Charles Lenox Mysteries

by Charles Finch

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  • Published:
  • Nov 2012, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Charles Lenox is at the pinnacle of his political career and is a delighted new father. His days of regularly investigating the crimes of Victorian London now some years behind him, he plans a trip to his uncle's estate, Somerset, in the expectation of a few calm weeks to write an important speech. When he arrives in the quiet village of Plumley, however, what greets him is a series of strange vandalisms upon the local shops: broken windows, minor thefts, threatening scrawls.

Only when a far more serious crime is committed does he begin to understand the great stakes of those events, and the complex and sinister mind that is wreaking fear and suspicion in Plumley.  Now, with his protege, John Dallington, at his side, the race is on for Lenox to find the culprit before he strikes again. And this time his victim may be someone that Lenox loves.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Boasting one of Finch's tightest and trickiest plots, this installment further establishes Lenox as a worthy heir to the aristocratic mantle of Lord Peter Wimsey." - Publishers Weekly

"The latest in Finch's veddy British mysteries is, like its predecessors, leisurely paced, with ornate Victorian dialogue that often comes oh-so-close to parody ("I find a walk after supper a eupeptic diversion") and plenty of richly detailed scene-setting description. Sure to please fans of the previous Lenox novels." - Booklist

"The sixth in Finch's steadily improving series (A Burial at Sea, 2011, etc.) develops the congenial continuing characters further while providing quite a decent mystery." - Kirkus

This information about A Death in the Small Hours was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Charles Finch Author Biography

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

Charles Finch is the USA Today bestselling author of the Charles Lenox mysteries, including the most recent, The Woman in the Water (February 2018). His first contemporary novel, The Last Enchantments, is also available from St. Martin's Press. Finch received the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation Award, for excellence in reviewing, from the National Book Critics Circle. His reviews and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago with his family.

Charles Lenox series order (as of 2015)

  1. A Beautiful Blue Death (2007)
  2. The September Society (2008)
  3. The Fleet Street Murders (2009)
  4. A Stranger in Mayfair (2010)
  5. A Burial at Sea (2011)
  6. A Death in the Small Hours (2012)
  7. An Old Betrayal (2013)
  8. ...

... Full Biography
Link to Charles Finch's Website

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  • The Woman in the Water jacket

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