Shepherd L 2012 Tom-all-alone's

This is good! Witty, literary, arch, engaging. I read the first 200 pages at a gallop, then slowed down to savour the writing before it was over all too soon.

It's not quite a detective novel, although the hero is a detective. It's not quite a historical novel, although it's firmly set in Victorian London.

The only aspect of the book I'm not completly sold on is the references to authors who weren't writing at the time the novel is set. It's smart - but maybe a bit too smart? - every time I spot one I lose my immersion for a moment. As she says:

'Only connect' is proving a difficult aphorism to follow.

Yet I defy you to read this and not revisit Dickens.

First line:

The young man at the desk puts down his pen and sits back in his chair. The fog has been thickening all afternoon, and whatever sun might once have shone is now sinking fast.