Charles Finch

Much of my new book, The September Society, takes place at my alma mater, Oxford University. It's one of the most beautiful towns in the world, but as one reader, Noel, e-mailed me, not everyone has an idea of what it looks like. In particular she drew my attention to this wonderful slide show of Christ Church Meadow, where the first body in the book is found.

Here's a collection of virtual tours of Oxford, too. There's one of Lincoln, where much of the book takes place, and also of beautiful colleges such as Christ Church and Merton. I hope you enjoy looking at this wonderful city!

My new book The September Society has been receiving good reviews prior to its publication, but today it received (just as A Beautiful Blue Death did) the highest pre-pub accolade there is - a starred review from Library Journal. Needless to say I'm delighted! They call the book "another triumph" and compare it to the work of two wonderful writers, Will Thomas and Caleb Carr.

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One quick announcement - for those of you with an Amazon Kindle, A Beautiful Blue Death has appeared in that format now. It's the cheapest way to buy the book.

I often receive inquiries about signed copies of my second Charles Lenox mystery novel, The September Society. As someone who relishes finding a signed copy of a book by one of my favorite authors, I certainly understand.

At the moment they're available at nearly every Barnes and Noble in Manhattan, and also at The Mysterious Bookshop on Warren Street and The Poisoned Pen in Arizona. Alternatively, I am always happy to sign books through the mail. Just e-mail me at charles@charles-finch.com to arrange shipping and I will inscribe and return your book. The same is true of either hardcover or paperback copies of my first book, A Beautiful Blue Death, or its large print counterpart.

My new Charles Lenox historical mystery novel, The September Society, is in bookstores today. It's the tale of a student who vanishes from Oxford University, leaving behind a trail of perplexing clues which Lenox must decipher. There are new characters, plus the return of my favorite old ones - McConnell, Lady Jane, and Graham among them.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch made the day doubly happy by giving the book a rave:

'Charles Finch, the author of last year’s “A Beautiful Blue Death,” now returns with “The September Society” (320 pages, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), another period piece that combines the sensibilities of Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dorothy L. Sayers with the creative talents of its young author.
“A Beautiful Blue Death” was a remarkable debut mystery, set in England in 1865 and featuring Charles Lenox, a wealthy, aristocratic, amateur detective. He returns in “The September Society,” an equally fascinating puzzler with even more surprising twists. And in addition to the finely tuned plot, Finch invests his work with wonderful characters — Lenox and his close friend Lady Jane Grey top the list — and a detailed evocation of mid-Victorian London.
Finch’s second novel begins with a visit to Lenox from a frightened Lady Annabelle Payson, whose only child, George, has gone missing from Oxford. As Lenox investigates (and as Finch writes in an intriguing prologue), it becomes clear that George’s fate is tied to deaths that took place nearly 20 years ago in British-ruled India.
A creative storyline with some genuine surprises, well-drawn characters, a keen sense of place and time and refined prose combine to make “The September Society” an all-around winner.'

- Jay Strafford

I hope you like it too!

My publisher, St. Martin's, has a great rotating guest blog called Moments in Crime, and this week I'll be writing long-form blog posts there. Head over to check it out!

For fans of traditional mysteries, including those who liked A Beautiful Blue Death, I heartily recommend GM Malliet's first novel. Great historical fun.

I've mentioned in this space how much I admire George Orwell, not as much for his fiction (though Coming up for Air is a good book and 1984 did what falls to very few books and invented a language) as for his essays and memoirs. The best of these, his masterpiece Homage to Catalonia, is a moving long meditation on his role in the Spanish Civil War.

And yet anyone who has read Orwell's letters knows that in 1939 Victor Gollancz's well-meaning Left Book Club rejected it, because Orwell was (presciently and bravely) an anti-Stalinist when much of England's left fully embraced Russia's leader. Another of Orwell's greatest books, The Road to Wigan Pier, the Club only accepted after revision that downplayed the book's criticism of certain socialists.

The Left Book Club's checkered history ran through my mind when I read the other day about the new Progressive Book Club, which will apparently serve a similar purpose. In an age of fractured political movements, the people running the club would do well to remember that ideologies can infect and splinter the Left just as easily, perhaps even more easily, than the Right.

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The good early reviews for The September Society continue to pour in. Kirkus Reviews, notoriously the most astringent of the pre-publication reviewers, devoted most of their review to a summary of the plot, but also called it "exciting and cerebral." I'm really proud of this book and hope it will prove to be a great August read.