Title:

The Woman in the Water

Author:

Charles Finch

Category:

Mystery / Thriller

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

December 7, 2024

he cover of this book calls it "A Prequel to the Charles Lenox Series" - this novel, The Woman in the Water, was published in 2018. The Charles Lenox series began in 2007 with A Beautiful Blue Death and now the series is up to 12 volumes. The Woman in the Water is actually the first book in a prequel trilogy and so is considered book 0.1, the other two books The Vanishing Man and The Last Passenger are books 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. So there is a total of fifteen books published at this time - 3 prequels and 12 mysteries. Bernard Cornwell did something similar with his Richard Sharpe series - after writing all about Sharpe's campaigns against the French, Cornwell wrote 3 prequel novels describing a young Sharpe's adventures with the British army while stationed in India before the Napoleonic wars.

The Woman in the Water is set in 1850s London. The protagonist is Charles Lenox the younger son of Sir Edward Lenox. Since Charles is the younger son, he will not inherit the title nor the estate. But he is still wealthy and young, he just needs to find something to devote his life to. Charles decides that wants to be a private detective and catch criminals. He is only 23, and imagines apprehending murderers will better society. Charles recently finished university, as did his brilliant (though lower-class) valet, Graham.

Charles and Graham scour the London newspapers for an unsolved crime to investigate. They come across a letter written to the Challenger; the letter writer boasts that he has committed the perfect crime - he has murdered someone, yet has escaped entirely. Even worse, the murderer boasts that one month after his first crime, he intends to commit a second murder. Charles and Graham scurry down to the office of The Challenger and ask to see the original letter that was mailed in. Lenox is on his first case!

Scotland Yard wants nothing to do with young Charles when he volunteers his services. They think Lenox is just an idle gentleman playing at detective. But Charles makes some observations that the experienced detectives missed, and Sir Richard Mayne, who runs Scotland Yard, hires Lenox as a consultant (this is actually an insult to Charles, because a wealthy Victorian gentleman would never stoop to working for a salary.) At one point Sir Mayne insists that Lenox pick up his pay or he will be fired. Lenox is so furious that takes his pay in coin and gives one coin to every beggar that he encounters on his walk home.

A dead woman was found floating down the Thames in a large travel trunk. But who could she be? The condition of her teeth indicate that the dead woman was not a destitute woman; but no woman of class has been reported missing. No notifications of a missing woman are received, so who can this dead woman be?

The relationship between Lenox and Graham felt awkward to me. Although Charles treats Graham like a friend, there is a huge class difference between them. Graham fetches his clothing, carries out errands, and always defers to Charles and calls him "sir". Can a friend also be a servant? Graham is clearly a valet ("valet with a hard t", though it was lost upon me what was the significance of the "with a hard t"). Charles and Graham are clearly not social equals, even if sometimes they act like friends.

The story goes off on a few tangents that appear to be included to introduce the reader to characters that appear later in the actual series. Elizabeth is the love of Charles's life, and though she is but nineteen, Elizabeth has already been married to a wealthy peer. Yet Charles is still smitten with her, and vows that he will never marry since his true love can never be his. Lenox's fearsome housekeeper, Mrs Huggins, is always demanding changes to the Lenox household, pointing out that when she worked for Lady Hamilton things were much different. I think Huggins exists to provide comic relief, but I found her more tiresome than humorous. There are several Scotland Yard detectives like Field, Sinex and Exeter, who despise the youthful Lenox and his naive ideas, I presume that Charles will clash with these men later in the series. Charles's father has a large tumor in his chest, the doctors have given just him 6 months to live. When tension in the novel ought to be peaking toward a climax, Charles instead takes a sight-seeing trip to Russia with his failing father. This slows the momentum of the narrative.

Although the "perfect crime" eventually figured out by Charles, the villain escapes. I presume this master criminal acts the part of "Professor Moriarity" throughout the series, as Charles matches wits with the elusive arch criminal.