Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: Home by Nightfall

Author: Charles Finch

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Mystery

Summary: It's London, 1876, and the whole city is abuzz with the enigmatic disappearance of a famous foreign pianist. Lenox has an eye on the matter - as a partner in a now-thriving detective agency, he's a natural choice to investigate. Just when he's tempted to turn his focus to it entirely, however, his grieving brother asks him to come down to Sussex, and Lenox leaves the metropolis behind for the quieter country life of his boyhood. Or so he thinks. Something strange is afoot in Markethouse: small thefts - books, blankets, animals - and, more alarmingly, a break-in at the house of a local insurance agent. As he and his brother investigate this accumulation of mysteries, Lenox realizes that something very strange and serious indeed may be happening, more than just local mischief. Soon, he's racing to solve two cases at once, one in London and one in the country, before either turns deadly. Blending Charles Finch's trademark wit, elegance, and depth of research, this new mystery, equal parts Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, may be the finest in the series. Minotaur Books, 2015.

This book is part of a series featuring a British private detective. The combination of the plot and the time period interested me, so I was really excited to get in and see how it would go.

Seeing as how I'm jumping into the middle of the series, I expected characters and circumstances I wouldn't understand. Luckily, there was only a bit of that. Finch explains any empty gaps in information very well and they're compact enough so as to not take away from the story. I appreciated that so I wouldn't get too sidetracked.

The plot itself is good. I have a feeling that if I had read the series from the beginning, I wouldn't have had the feeling that the book was moving at a slower pace than I liked. Finch likes to settle in the moment with his fans; update them on the state of his characters and give them new insights into his detective and his companions. This isn't a problem and he doesn't dwell too much on the side plots; it just stretched the pacing a little more than what I would have liked.

Lennox, the private detective, decides to spend some time back at his family home at his brother's request. In the process, he stumbles upon a little mystery that turns to have more serious consequences than he first anticipated. At the same time, a famous pianist goes missing and Lennox has to juggle both cases.

The countryside mystery is much more interesting than the missing pianist. In fact, the way Finch treats the missing pianist case disappointed me, but that was only after everything else was tidied up. I was engaged and actively trying to figure out the solution the whole time so that is a point in Finch's favor. While the cases are no less sinister than other mystery novels, I would say that the series won't be like "modern" mystery novels. They focus less on the sensationalism and drama and more on the process and bare facts - Sherlock Holmes would have approved. I still found the novel to be engaging and I think I would read more of the series in the future.

I give Home by Nightfall an A.

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