Harriet Smart

This boxed set contains The Butchered Man, The Dead Songbird and The Shadowcutter, three mysteries set in Northminster, an English cathedral city, in the 1840s. Major Vernon is establishing a police force and has employed Felix Carswell as the police surgeon. Carswell is the illegitimate son of Lord Rothborough, a devoted parent who has always taken an interest in his son's life.

In The Butchered Man, Vernon and Carsell investigate the death of an ambitious clergyman whose mutilated body has show more been found on a building site.

The Dead Songbird is a beautiful young man, found dead in the cathedral. He is one of two leading tenors in the cathedral choir.

The Shadowcutter cuts silhouettes from paper and has been employed by Lord Rothborough to provide entertainment for his daughter's birthday. There are too many sub-plots, which meander all over the place, but I still enjoyed the book.

I enjoyed all three books because I liked Smart's writing style, was engaged with the characters and interested in the historical development of the police force. Carswell and Vernon are flawed characters who make mistakes, especially with women. show less

Good start to what should be an excellent series. Chief Constable is setting up the first police force in Northminster and selects Felix Carswell to be his police surgeon. The former major and the highly trained doctor are men of principles and males of their times. A horrific corpse turns out to have been mutilated after being poisoned. An unprincipled cad and despoiler of women, virtuous and otherwise, many people wanted him dead. The chase is convoluted and well told.

This series gets stronger as the characters evolve. The plot is complicated, with multiple crimes, but flows nicely. Criminology, as a science, is in its earliest stages but is fitted nicely to the time and place.

This series gets stronger as the characters evolve. The plot is complicated, with multiple crimes, but flows nicely. Criminology, as a science, is in its earliest stages but is fitted nicely to the time and place.