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- Verified Buyer
In this installment of the series, time has jumped forward a bit and Lennox is now a proud father, loving husband, settled MP and mentor to John Dallington's amateur detecting. He feels very blessed, but yet he can't help looking at John Dallington with envy as the younger man pursues his amateur detecting and Scotland Yard calls Dallington now. Politics is a career that he does from duty, but detecting was his true vocation. He muses quietly about his life now and looks back on other times.Then things change when Charles is given the task to write the opening speech for the House. Accepting his Uncle Freddie's invitation, Charles moves the family to Freddie's estate in the country where he can work with no distractions. Freddie offers Lennox a very welcome distraction when he presents him with a series of perplexing vandalisms in the village which escalate to murder. The case has turned dangerous and Charles with the help of the local police and John Dallington work hard to find the solution. Things turn fast and furious as the villains feel Lennox drawing ever closer, but there are also a few domestic surprises too.Like most books in the series, the story meanders along gently as through the set up and early investigation, but then takes off near the end to a more furious pace before settling into a satisfying denouement. The mystery is set well against the backdrop of rural England and balanced well against the ongoing story of Lennox's private life that include the always welcome recurring secondary characters and some new characters to love too. I enjoyed putting my mind to they mystery and was happy to figured out a great deal of it, but I still got some delightful surprises with some of the twists.All in all, it was an engaging read and leads me eagerly forward to the next book in the series.