If this is what T. Aaron Payton can offer, I can't wait to get my hands on more of his books! The Constantine Affliction is a witty, imaginative new offering that will please fans of steampunk and historical mysteries - it is well-written, has delightful characters and is altogether fun.

The Victorian London of The Constantine Affliction is not quite the one we're used to reading about; people are still coming to terms with the spread of a sexually-transmitted disease that changes the gender of its victims. Lord Pembroke Halliday, better known as Pimm, is forced to investigate the cause of a series of murders involving the human prostitutes managed by Abel Value, one of London's most notorious criminals, if he wants to protect his best friend Freddy (or currently his wife Winifred, actually, but more on that later) from scandal. Eleanor Skyler, a talented journalist writing under the byline "E. Skye," is a much more willing investigator who is intrigued by the truth behind a new chain of brothels featuring clockwork courtesans. Naturally, their respective investigations collide and they realize that there's quite a bit more happening in the seedy underbelly of London society than meets the eye.

Freddy/Winifred is a real hoot and one of the best things about this book, I must say. A sufferer of the Constantine Affliction due to his less-than-careful choices of bedside companions, he (or she) is now Lady Pembroke thanks to a marriage of convenience and finds new ways to support his best friend Pimm, such as hiding in a next-door room with guns at the ready when Pimm receives unsavoury guests. HA. The situations the two find themselves in are hilarious, but it's also quite sweet that Pimm went to such lengths to protect Freddy when his family would have rejected him after he contracted the disease. The inclusion of Freddy is also a very clever move by the author. Because readers have established a connection with Freddy, we see not only the humorous side of the affliction but also the potentially painful after-effects experienced by survivors - particularly upper-class men. What on earth do they do with their lives afterwards, when they are ridiculed by society and find themselves placed under the same restrictions as women were in the 19th Century? It certain puts a new spin on the dangers of infidelity, and it grounds a plot that might otherwise have been dismissed as pure frivolity.

Furthermore, it opens up all manners of possibilities for discussions on gender equality. I can't be the only reader who's just a little sick of books where authors use their characters to preach feminist viewpoints (or otherwise). The Constantine Affliction, on the other hand, is a really fascinating new way to approach the subject. Through the effect it had on secondary characters and other members of society in the story, we can see the contradictions - men and women being treated differently and judged differently, the confusion introduced by the affliction (should men or women who have changed genders be considered based on their genders at birth?) and the new possibilities it opens up for women changed into men. Pimm, Ellie and Freddy also engage in some very thoughtful conversations where this (and other related) topics are brought up, and I really appreciated that the author wasn't afraid to introduce intelligent debates that gave readers something to think about, even while the characters are having all sorts of fun with clockwork courtesans, murder mysteries and treasonous intrigue.

Pimm and Ellie are both perceptive, resourceful individuals and I liked them immensely, even if I didn't quite connect with them on an emotional level. Pimm has his vices, of course, and Ellie's bravery veered slightly into reckless territory that left her in a few close scrapes along the way, but they made a great combination. The author mentions in an afterword that he was influenced by other mystery-writing greats like Dorothy Sayers and this shows - Pimm reminds me of the best of the classic aristocrat detectives. For those who like a sprinkling of romance, we do get that here; it's actually adorable to find a male protagonist who appreciates his counterpart precisely because of her intelligence! But what about Freddy, you say? I confess I was a little worried, but everything is resolved admirably at the end, to the satisfaction of all involved.

There have been an unwelcome trend in the last year or so of supposedly "steampunk" books where machines and airships were thrown in and left as window dressing. Not so here, I'm glad to say! Machines and science in general is at the very heart of this story. What appears to be a simple serial murder mystery resulting from a gender-changing affliction is all rooted in science. T. Aaron Payton manages to capture both the confusion and excitement in an age where new technology is all the rage and is evidently a double-edged sword that may bring improvements but also a variety of problems.

If I had one complaint to make, it is the fact that the climax veered away from the scientific basis established throughout the story. Of course, there is new technology introduced along the way that may be entirely impossible even by modern standards, but it is convincingly written and doesn't require significant suspension of belief. I did draw the line when the villain introduced the supernatural at the end, however, and was frankly a little disappointed that after the logic of it all, we're presented with extraterrestrials. At least it produced a fun scene where Ellie and Freddy fended them off with Pimm's fencing swords?

That aside, T. Aaron Payton has produced a fantastic steampunk story that is thoroughly worth a read. The book has a tagline stating that it's a "Pimm and Skye Adventure," which makes me wonder whether there will be any more. It certainly reads perfectly well as a standalone novel, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there might be a sequel!