A Beautiful Blue Death
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox #1)
By: Charles Finch
[Fulfilling “A book in a series” as part of the 2021 Spring/Summer Reading Challenge]
I enjoyed this read.
So I was surprised to see that the 4 most popular reviews of this book on Goodreads were 1 star.
Instead of spending too much time on the story itself, for this review I’ll spend most of it addressing the 1 star reviewers’ thoughts and giving my own opinion.
First of all, why did I read this book?
Well, I received an ARC for book #11 in this series (called An Extravagant Death which btw has a way better cover than this one) and really liked it. Enough to go back and check out the rest of the series!
I personally do not think the qualms of the aforementioned reviewers for this book were worth the 1 star ratings they gave.
It would seem some of them must be British or familiar with British vernacular and customs because they criticized some of the American lingo and the familiarity and friendliness with some of the upper class to the servants or lower class people.
But as an American, it still read very British to me. I did not feel as though any of the language jarred me out of the Victorian London era. Clubhouse vs Club… Woodpile vs Coal scuttle… Figure out vs work out… Really? I guess if you’re British— beware, you’re going to be annoyed…? But if you’re American… I think you’ll be able to read this without being overly distressed by the word choices.
Also, maybe there was some ‘class mixing’ that diverged from cultural customs during this time, but do we really want to read a book where they are indifferent or condescending to their ‘inferiors’? I don’t believe that in our more progressive culture we would find ourselves rooting for upper class protagonists if they didn’t care about people.
You’re telling me, it would make you happier to read a book like this: “Lady Jane heard her former maid of several years committed suicide or was murdered. But in fact, Lady Jane did not care. She skipped the funeral and requested her new maid bring her another sandwich while she prepared for a ball with rich people whom she loved. Meanwhile, Lenox, who would never stoop so low as to address his butler by name, even though they were friends in college said, ‘Butler, fix me tea by the fire and then don’t speak to me.’ Lenox never once even wondered if his butler was tired of making tea so many times that day because it was in fact the butler’s job and that was that.”?
So what if the main characters aren’t entirely uppity?? Accuracy here would not enhance the story. Finch wrote it correctly. Move along.
Besides the language and class issues other reviewers had, the other main problem regularly mentioned by other reviewers was just the writing style, the descriptions, the slowness of the book, and the similarities to Sherlock Holmes.
And to these I say: Duh…
For one- look at the book cover. (One reviewer said they were ‘suckered in by the beautiful cover’ so can we really trust any of their opinions on what is boring…?) (Update: after writing this review I discovered an alternate book cover that is a bit better than the one I was working with so I’ll assume this reviewer saw that one instead)
If you’re coming into this book expecting a high-octane, edge-of-your-seat murder investigation, then yeah, I guess you’ll be disappointed. This is not in the suspense genre— it’s a mystery. And further, it’s a historical fiction mystery that was (I believe) intended to parallel Sherlock Holmes. Because people LIKE Sherlock Holmes. And Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes books are ALSO not high-octane.
This well-liked detective trope uses a methodical and pensive process to solve the mysteries. Complete with pipe. I think if this book DIDN’T have a pipe we would probably be concerned.
To address the Sherlock similarities— I think Finch also wrote this correctly. There are enough similarities to attract the audience that likes a Holmes investigation but with enough differences (at least to me) that give it new life.
The main similarities: London. Lenox being an amateur sleuth who smokes his pipe to help him solve cases. He has an equivalent of Watson in his doctor friend, McConnell. And he has an equivalent to Mycroft in his brother, Edmond, who works in politics.
The main differences: Lenox has a lady friend— Lady Jane, a young, childless widower who lives next door. And this is set-up to become a romantic interest which adds a dimension to Lenox’s character that we don’t get with Sherlock. Also, both Lenox and his brother are not as angsty, arrogant, and rude as Sherlock and Mycroft. They are more friendly, congenial, and humble. So the social dynamics are pretty different as well.
To address those who were annoyed at frequent talk of tea, toast, rain and boots. This didn’t really bother me that much. I mean… it’s London. I very much expect this. Plus, since it’s a series, I feel adding in Lenox’s thoughts, habits, or errands helps us see more of his personality as we get to know him from book to book. If it was a standalone novel I agree it would have been unnecessary and superfluous. In this context I was not annoyed. And again, I think this is pretty in-line with Doyle’s books and other Sherlock ‘copycats.’
Don’t get me wrong, I do love a good suspense book and I could see how these could get tiresome if you just read straight through the series, but I think it would be a great series to periodically bounce back to from time to time to get a little era-centric mystery in between other reads.
To the tune of mystery, this book holds up very well. I didn’t have it figured out and I thought the clues were clever and interesting.
In case you just wanted to know what this book even is…
Here’s a short summary— Lady Jane requests amateur sleuth, Charles Lenox, to look into the untimely death of a recently transferred maid of hers who went to work in the same house as her fiancé. After looking at the scene Lenox suspects foul play. She was killed by a poison called ‘Bella Indigo’ (beautiful blue… the title, hint hint) He must investigate the evidence and motives of those living in the house to figure out who would commit such a crime and why. When another murder happens (of one of the prime suspects) in the house shortly after the first, the case intensifies.
I just read Castle Shade which is part of a different Sherlock fan-fic series and I would highly recommend this series over that one. The writing style is similar but if you think this book was slow, that one is even slower! What I appreciated about A Beautiful Blue Death is that Finch wastes no time letting us know where the book is going. Castle Shade took half the book to really get at what the mystery even was. Here we find out right away about the murder and can then sit back and watch it unravel instead of turning pages thinking we must have missed something important.
Please don’t let the one star ratings sway you. If you want a mystery in the vein of Sherlock, you will enjoy this series. I am easily bored with books but I like these. Granted, I’ve only read two of them, but I plan to continue reading through these so keep following my blog and I’ll let you know if I hit a dud.
Cheerio!
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