Where is The Vanishing Man?

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I wasn’t sure which book to pick this week, but have decided on The Vanishing Man by Charles Finch. First, let’s clear up a few confusing things about the listing for this book. First… it isn’t about a vanishing man. It is about the theft of a work of art, which is the clue to a larger mystery. Unless the title is referring to the man in the painting, which really isn’t the crux of the mystery, so I’m not sure.

Secondly, Amazon lists it as a prequel to the Charles Lenox Victorian series, which is odd when it is book #12 in said series. The Woman in the Water is also referred to as the prequel to this series, and in fact says so on the cover, yet it is book #11 in the series. Perhaps Charles Finch has been writing them in reverse order and his publisher hasn’t gone back to fix the descriptions of the previously published books, I don’t know. It is confusing, but there you go.

I have read another book or two in this series. As mentioned, Charles Lenox is a Victorian sleuth, the first or one of the first private investigators of this time. He is high born and cannot be a policeman or be paid for his investigations because of the impact on his and his family’s reputations, so he operates on a sort of a favours system that I don’t really understand.

But hiring practices aside, Charles Lenox is an interesting protagonist, finding his way into a new profession and figuring out the ropes and new investigative techniques from various different circumstances, books, and people. In this case, he is searching for the Duke’s stolen painting, which is the key to a much larger mystery. Lenox has to unravel the various half-truths and hints to figure out what is really going on, since the Duke doesn’t actually seem interested in recovering the paining.

“I think it probably the least valuable painting on the wall,” said the duke, with an odd satisfaction. “Even if it were not stolen but freely sold by its owner, myself, its worth would not exceed fifteen or twenty pounds at auction.”

Charles Finch, The Vanishing Man

London, 1853: Having earned some renown by solving a case that baffled Scotland Yard, young Charles Lenox is called upon by the Duke of Dorset, one of England’s most revered noblemen, for help. A painting of the Duke’s great-grandfather has been stolen from his private study. But the Duke’s concern is not for his ancestor’s portrait; hiding in plain sight nearby is another painting of infinitely more value, one that holds the key to one of the country’s most famous and best-kept secrets.

Dorset believes the thieves took the wrong painting and may return when they realize their error—and when his fears result in murder, Lenox must act quickly to unravel the mystery behind both paintings before tragedy can strike again. As the Dorset family closes ranks to protect its reputation, Lenox uncovers a dark secret that could expose them to unimaginable scandal—and reveals the existence of an artifact, priceless beyond measure, for which the family is willing to risk anything to keep hidden.

In this intricately plotted prequel to the Charles Lenox mysteries, the young detective risks his potential career—and his reputation in high society—as he hunts for a criminal mastermind.

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