The Man in the Shadows
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Private investigators Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham tackle a puzzling miscarriage of justice and the curious case of a missing child, in the new, gripping World’s End Bureau Victorian mystery.
London, August 1881. After a difficult few months, the World’s End Investigation Bureau is thriving. Affairs, sex scandals, divorces . . . Lily Raynor is delighted to have so much work for herself and her capable assistant, Felix Wilbraham, but she can’t help wishing for a case that doesn’t involve the rich, over-indulged – and not terribly moral – upper classes. It’s a wish she soon has cause to regret.
The Reverend James Jellicote arrives at the Bureau, seeking help on behalf of an elderly Jewish refugee who fled the pogroms in Russia. Yelisaveta and her young grandson arrived safely in London, only for the unspeakable to happen: eleven-year-old Yakov disappeared, without a trace. The case is impossible to refuse, but seems equally impossible to solve.
And troubles don’t come alone. Soon, Lily and Felix have another impossible puzzle on their hands. Hop-picker Abel Spokewright was hanged last year for murder, but his brother Jared is determined to clear his name. If Abel didn’t kill cheerful, pretty dairymaid Effie, though, who did? Only one thing’s certain: the murderer isn’t going to be happy about having the past raked up . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1881, Clare's unremarkable third World's End Bureau mystery (after 2020's The Outcast Girls) finds Lily Raynor, the London bureau's owner, feeling unfulfilled by affluent clients seeking incriminating evidence against their spouses, despite the recent uptick in business. Then she gets a request from the Rev. Mr. James Jellicote, a friend who runs a mission for the needy, to search for a missing child. A Russian Jewish woman Jellicote has been helping, who fled pogroms in her native country, is distraught that her 11-year-old grandson, who came to England with her, has disappeared. Lily dives into the case, while her friend and assistant, Felix Wilbraham, agrees to help Jared Spokewright, whose younger brother was hanged the previous year for strangling the milkmaid he'd been courting. Jared is sure his brother was innocent, and Felix travels to Kent to try to confirm that belief and finger the real killer. The twin plot lines are entertaining enough, but in a crowded subgenre they're not particularly memorable. Maisie Dobbs fans interested in a similar series set during the Victorian era may want to check this out.
