Solid Start to a Mystery Series: A Beautiful Blue Death

According to Barnes and Noble, which is currently stocking the twentieth installment of this series or some such, I'm a little behind the times. But aren't we all? Regardless, it's nice to know that when I take my head out of the sand (ie, some other book or one of my own), that there are still great mysteries to discover.

A Beautiful Blue Death, the first book in the Charles Lenox series is one such success. The amateur investigator Lenox was quite competent for someone who does this in his spare time. As he interacted with suspect after suspect following a suspicious suicide in a well-to-do-household, I had my suspicions about the culprit, but the resolution was not easily transparent. That, of course, is the mark of a good mystery.

The investigation did emphasize interviewing subjects rather than forensic investigations, so I would have liked some more robust variety on that front. Those thing were there, especially at the beginning, and that's what really hooked me, but then the crime scene was closed off to Lenox, and by proxy, the reader, and we were left with talking to people who may or may not be telling the truth. Hopefully, that will be an obstacle easily overcome in the series by a new set of circumstances.

I liked Lenox himself, and the other characters, but the characterization did feel a bit rushed for the suspects, and I didn't get a whole lot of personal insight on Lenox. Not as much as I would like, as you always want to root for the detective, and feel some stronger connection to him over someone else. Something that makes him distinctive and not generic. That was not entirely forthcoming. But I hold out hope that he will be further fleshed out in future adventures. They do abound.

K. Rating: 4/5