Book Log 2022 #51: The September Society by Charles Finch

Gentleman detective Charles Lenox is back on the case, this time looking into the disappearance of an Oxford student. An alumnus of Oxford himself, Lenox is happy to revisit his old stomping grounds, but less happy when the case evolves from missing persons to murder.

His investigation leads to the secret society of the title, which appears to have ties to soldiers who've served in India. While he works to uncover what role the society may have had in the student's death, Lenox looks to keep moving out of the friend zone with neighbor Lady Jane Grey. He also takes on an apprentice, another gentleman with an interest in detection, though one of of more profligate habits.

While I wouldn't call this a cozy mystery, the setting among England's Victorian elite does take the edge off a bit. It's hard to feel like Lenox or his colleagues are going to come to harm. But it's still an engaging mystery, and a successful follow-up to the debut novel of the series.