Backward Boy

An American expat gets tangled in the case of an accused killer in this historical mystery set in Edwardian London. Denton, the American Civil War veteran turned expat author, knows better than to go around doing people favors. But love will make chumps of us all, and for love of Janet Striker, Denton is making inquiries on behalf of the extremely tedious Mrs Snokes. Her husband, she declares, is innocent of the hideous charges made against him. The newspapers, however, think differently: They have dubbed him the “Barnsbury Butcher.” Then, for the love of an old friend, Denton has taken on a chore for the man’s brattish son, entangled in a shameful liaison with a woman of beauty, spirit, and the ability to wreck his tidy little upper-class future. As Denton juggles these two increasingly precarious cases, he’ll hardly have time to write that new novella—though not for want of material.