Equal parts Sherlock Holmes, Gosford Park, and P.G. Wodehouse, this Victorian debut introduces a wonderfully appealing detective and his friend, the lovely Lady Jane. On most days during London's long winter, Charles Lenox, a Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes to relax in his private library with a cup of tea, a roaring fire, and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox finds himself in the heart of another mystery--one more complicated and layered than any he's ever faced.
One of Jane's former servants, Prudence Smith, is dead, an apparent suicide. But Lenox immediately suspects something more sinister: murder by a rare and deadly poison. The patrician house where the girl worked and lived is full of suspects, and while Prudence played with more than a few hearts, even Lenox is baffled by the elusive motive behind her death. When another body turns up during the season's most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle the web of loyalties and animosities surrounding the Barnard mansion. He has friends to help him with the task, not least his faithful valet, Graham, and his assistant and friend, Dr. Thomas McConnell. But suddenly their work grinds to a halt: Lenox's rival at Scotland Yard, Inspector Exeter, has taken a personal interest in the case. Did jealously kill Prudence Smith? Was it the mysterious treasure secretly inhabiting an upstairs room in the house? Or was it something else entirely--something that the brilliant Lenox alone can uncover before the killer strikes again, dangerously close to home?
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