The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

This is the third in a series about the Victorian amateur detective Charles Lenox. It can be enjoyed as a standalone.

It is 1867 and a by-election in the Northern town of Stirrington is called after the elected MP dies. Charles is called by the Liberal Party to stand as their candidate.

The next two weeks for Charles are busy. He much to the annoyance of Scotland Yard, begins to investigate the murders of two Fleet St journalists a mile apart from each other. A friend's wife miscarries and Charles' fiancee - who happens to also be Charles' next door neighbour - goes to stay with them. This prompts her to send a letter to Charles postponing their marriage.

The trains in those days were on time and frequent it seems, which allows Charles to flit easily between Stirrington and London. His focus seems to be saving his relationship with his fiancee Lady Jane Grey - does someone like Henry VIII I wonder.

He seems to leave the main bulk of his electioneering to his butler and the parties co-coordinator in the area. The murders he seems to leave to his apprentice - a debit riddled fun loving son of a noble family. 

His flitting backwards and forwards does grate on the nerves those in Stirrington and they do wonder if he is the right candidate, as his hears seems to be more in London then with them. They are worried that this would be the case, when he was the MP and that their worries and troubles would be of no concern to him.

It is a tension filled plot up until the end.

The characters are personalities in their own right, although that is not to say I warmed to all of them. I found Charles condescending and arrogant to a fault.

 

The two murders are carried out in the opening few pages, this sucks you into the story immediately. The fast pace continues throughout, and I felt leaves you reeling from one suspect to another, right till near the end.

The miscarriage I felt was sensitively written and showed not only how it affects the mother, but the father, the rest of the family and friends.

The political story line I felt added nothing to the story except for the tension of Charles going backward and forwards. Saying that the echoes of scandals we have had in recent years, left me wondering how far we have come in the democratic process of voting. The main opponent of Charles is a ghastly man, who expects loyalty from his once employees after moving his brewing factory from the area. Who would have though business and politics going hand in hand.

All in all I found this book enjoyable and would read more by Charles Finch. His writing is compact and fast paced, a good read when the rains falling and life needs some injection of 'fun'.

Waiting for Doggo by Mark B Mills

Doggo is an ugly dog who has a small role to play in the story. He was adopted by Clara from a dogs’ home and is left with her partner of five years after she does a moonlight flit. The story revolves around Dan healing and moving on.

Dan and Doggo do not get on, so Dan takes him back to the home. He leaves a while later with Doggo in tow. A stipulation of the adoption was that Doggo would be castrated, I can almost see Dan and Doggo cross their legs as the female staff member makes snipping motions with her fingers.

We then see Dan in his new job at an advertising company, he decides to take Doggo with him on his first day. The company has a no dog policy, but somehow Dan charms the boss and Doggo is allowed to stay. This is to the consternation of a cat owner, who plays the dirty to get Doggo evicted from his role as office pet.

Dan isn’t faithful to Clara after she has left and sleeps with her sister. He then begins a relationship with his work partner, and life becomes more stable for him after the obligatory hiccups.

Dan also becomes aware that two of the company’s employees are planning on taking the business from its owner. He resorts to shenanigans to protect the owner.

Clara returns and tries to smooth her way back into Dans life, but Doggo takes matters into his own paws.

This is a quick read and is well written, yet it lacks one vital element - Doggo. I wanted to read more about him, a dog with a crush on Jennifer Anderson has so much more in him then he was allowed to show here.

Dan and the plot which revolves around him seem only half constructed, as if they had not grown into fully developed ‘adults’ and had yet to get know each other well enough to be able to have a relationship yet.