Title:

The Last Passenger

Author:

Charles Finch

Category:

Mystery / Thriller

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

November 21, 2025

he Last Passenger is the final book in the "prequel trilogy" of the Charles Lenox mysteries. Having finished the trilogy, I can now embark upon the actual series, which currently stands at twelve volumes. Since the prequel books were written by Finch after he had complete book 10, The Inheritance, I wonder if the first volumes in the series will be as well written as this one was. Finch may have improved his writing considerably as he continued getting published, I hope I am not disappointed by the earlier books. I was impressed by The Last Passenger, the mystery was well plotted out, the description of Victorian England sounded authentic to me, and the characters are likeable enough.

Charles Lenox is an amateur detective, a wealthy aristocrat who prefers to use his spare time investigating crimes rather than gambling or hunting foxes. Lenox is tolerated by Scotland Yard because he has had some past success with solving baffling crimes. In The Last Passenger a man is found murdered in the 3rd class coach of the 449 train from Manchester. Lenox is called to Paddington Station and examines a victim brutally knifed to death. Blood is everywhere. But identifying the victim proves to be difficult - there is no identification upon the body. Stranger still, the killer took the time to cut out every label and monogram from the dead man's clothes, as if determined that the victim should not be identified. The killer even removed the labels on the man's socks.

Lenox's detective work eventually leads to discovering who the victim is, but he still must uncover a motive and the killer. What I like about this book is that there appears to be actual detective work involved. Lenox and his faithful valet, Graham, investigate crime scenes, interview witnesses and reference newspapers for clues. Lenox spends a lot of time pondering what he has learned, and often he latches onto a clue that gives him a lead to further unraveling the case.

Mixed in with the crime story, Finch also gives Lenox a personal life. Lenox is 27 and a bachelor, the equivalent of a male spinster. His best friend, the happily-married Lady Jane, has been unsubtlely introducing Lenox to eligible young women. Because Lenox has an older brother, he did not inherit the title, yet still he has enough wealth to guarantee a life of leisure. Will Lenox heed Lady Jane's advice and look at the beautiful women he meets in society events? Because Lenox "works" as a detective (even though he is not paid by Scotland Yard), many aristocrats consider him unworthy of their august company, because everyone knows a true gentleman never works.

Eventually the reader learns whodunnit and why. I thought the motivation of the killer was believable, and the clues that Lenox followed also was plausible. I felt this was a well constructed mystery novel in a expertly-portrayed Victorian London, and populated with likeable characters. Now to find a copy of A Beautiful Blue Death, book one of the "official" series.