April 30, 2012
Plucky 19-year-old Frances Doughty, a chemist’s daughter, undertakes the challenging task of solving the poisoning of one of her father’s customers in this formidable Victorian historical, the fiction debut of true crime writer Stratmann (Essex Murders). When Percival Garton, from an eminent Bayswater family, dies suddenly from strychnine believed carelessly dispensed at William Doughty & Son by the ailing and elderly proprietor, the publicity surrounding the event and the ensuing police investigation threaten the firm’s impeccable reputation. Frances decides to turn detective to clear her father’s name, though she realizes such work “might lead her into areas inappropriate for both her sex and class.” The determined Frances first researches strychnine in her father’s library, then interviews everyone involved, from her father’s panicky assistant, Herbert Munson, to the victim’s high-living brother, Cedric. Dense descriptive prose slows the action in places, but most readers will want to see more of Frances.