The Hidden City

It’s 1879, and Lenox is convalescing from the violent events of his last investigation. But a desperate letter from an old servant forces him to pick up the trail of a cold case: the murder of an apothecary seven years before, whose only clue is an odd emblem carved into the doorway of the building where the man was killed. When Lenox finds a similar mark at the site of another murder, he begins to piece together a hidden pattern which leads him into the corridors of Parliament, the slums of East London, and ultimately the very heart of the British upper class.

At the same time, Lenox must contend with the complexities of his personal life: a surprising tension with his steadfast wife, Lady Jane, over her public support of the early movement for women’s suffrage; the arrival of Angela Lenox, a mysterious young cousin from India, with an unexpected companion; the dizzying ascent of his brother, Sir Edmund Lenox, to one of the highest political posts in the land; the growing family of his young partners in detection, Polly and Dallington; and the return of the problems that have long bedeviled one of his closest friends, the dashing Scottish physician Thomas McConnell.

Featuring a beloved cast of characters, a top-notch puzzle, and Finch’s trademark humor and richness of historical detail, The Hidden City is a novel by a master at the top of his form.

Author Biography

Charles Finch is a novelist, literary critic, and author of the USA Today bestselling Charles Lenox mysteries. He has written essays, articles, and reviews for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Slate, New York, and The Guardian, and was honored with the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing by the National Book Critics Circle. He subsequently served on the NBCC’s board, and has also been a board member of Ragdale and was a judge for the 2021 Pen-Faulkner Prize. He lives in LA with his family.