The murders continue, and the crimes get more bizarre. Apparently, someone is out to get the entire Whitstable clan. One woman perishes while watching the theater - analysis reveals that poison was mixed into her makeup, which she reapplied at halftime. I think this novel is deliberately meant to recall the Sherlock Holmes style of mysteries. If you think back, the Hound of the Baskervilles, the Speckled Band, the Sign of Four - none of these plots is routine foul play solved with straightforward detective work. Instead, they are bizarre crimes with nefarious villains - think Moriarity. Fowler is mining this same vein. Especially at the climatic end, when all is revealed - this is not a plausible mystery, it is escapist fare that would make a nice movie plot (think James Bond plausability.) I am not saying the story is unenjoyable, I am merely commenting on the type of book that this is. More of an adventure yarn than a police procedural. I liked it well enough that I will keep the Water Room, the first book in this series, on my "to be read someday" book list.