Author Charles Finch is now deep into his Charles Lenox series set in the middle of 1800's England. They are probably classified as "cozy" mysteries but that doesn't mean they are without a great deal of substance.
I have to share the following thoughtful quote from the latest in the series called The Laws of Murder:
"It was funny how change came in life---usually not in great calamitous bursts but in the gentle onward motion of the years, half visible, mostly unconsidered from day to day. Marriage, children: They were like a series of ships out upon the sea as you stood upon the dock, moving so slowing toward you that they never seemed as if they would arrive. Except that then they were there all at once, huge and close, pausing for a moment and then sailing on toward the next person."
Charles Finch's protagonist, Charles Lenox, is of the upper-crust in Victorian England when gentlemen of his standing are not supposed to work. He becomes an amateur detective and is quite good at it. He's intelligent, determined and decent. The series is fresh and rich in historical information. You will feel yourself walking the gas lit streets of Victorian London right along side Charles.
This series is my favorite along with the Louise Penny Armand Gamache mystery series set in modern day Canada. The first in the Charles Lenox series is A Beautiful Blue Death. If you love the TV PBS series Downton Abbey, the Queen's corgis, Sherlock Holmes and all things English check out this series! You will not be disappointed.
