Book review: The September Society by Charles Finch

The thirty-eighth book I read in 2017 was The September Society, the second book in Charles Finch's Charles Lenox series.  In this sequel to A Beautiful Blue Death, Lenox is hired by the mother of an Oxford student who has disappeared and travels to the university, alma mater of both the detective and the author, to investigate.

The beginning of this book was unpromising: a virtual fawning travelogue to Oxford by a devoted alumnus.  As the plot unfolds, however, it proves to be more intricate than it first appeared.  The story is helped along by the introduction of a new character in Lord John Dallington, a Bright Young Thing prototype who wishes to shake off his aristocratic vices and become Lenox's assistant. 

I found this book to be a definite improvement over the first installment and will keep my eye out for the rest of the series.