Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, hosted Jess Armstrong and Charles Finch at the bookstore recently. Their new books are both set in England. Armstrong’s latest book is The Devil in Oxford. Finch’s latest book in the Charles Lenox series is The Hidden City. There are signed copies of both books available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Here’s the description of The Devil in Oxford.
The Devil in OxfordA Ruby Vaughn MysteryRuby Vaughn Mysteries #3
Jess Armstrong Publisher: St. Martin’s Publishing GroupFiction / Mystery & Detective – Women Sleuths / Romance – Historical – 20th Century / Gothic
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Set after the Great War, Jess Armstrong’s USA Today bestselling and award-winning series is historical gothic murder mystery at its best, and Ruby Vaughn returns in The Devil in Oxford.
If someone were to ask American heiress Ruby Vaughn how exactly the occult came to play such a large role in her life, she would immediately point to her octogenarian housemate and employer, Mr. Owen. Together, the pair run a rare book shop in Exeter. Mr. Owen’s penchant for arcane, unusual—and occasionally illegal—books has been known to get Ruby into her fair share of trouble. And after the last year, she is looking forward to spending a quiet holiday in picturesque Oxford while Mr. Owen attends the annual meeting of his antiquarian society. Secretly, Ruby is also looking for a holiday from her confounding feelings for Ruan Kivell, the intriguing folk healer Pellar that she met in Cornwall.
When Mr. Owen secures two tickets to an upcoming exhibition of artifacts amassed by disgraced scholar Julius Harker, Ruby reluctantly agrees to attend. The evening turns out to be more eventful than either of them bargained for. Harker’s dead body is discovered amongst the collection, his business partner is hastily arrested, and Ruan arrives…wanting to speak with Ruby. It seems both the arcane and her Pellar have followed Ruby to Oxford.
The murder case is suspicious at best, but the last thing Ruby wants is another investigation. That is, until an old friend comes begging for Ruby’s help. It soon becomes painfully clear that there is more going on in Oxford than meets the eye. Ruby and Ruan will have to uncover the dark secrets of the competitive world of antiquities while trying to understand the peculiar force that keeps drawing them back together.
JESS ARMSTRONG is the USA Today bestselling author of the Ruby Vaughn Mysteries. Her debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award. She has a master’s degree in American history but prefers writing about imaginary people to the real thing. Jess lives in New Orleans with her historian husband, two children and ever growing number of pets and plants. When she’s not working on her next project, she’s probably thinking about cheese, baking, on social media, or some combination of the above.
Here’s the summary of The Hidden City.
Against the vividly drawn backdrop of Victorian London, amateur sleuth Charles Lenox must unlock a mystery concealed in the architecture of the city itself, in this new novel from acclaimed author Charles Finch.
It’s 1879, and Lenox is convalescing from the violent events of his last investigation. But a desperate letter from an old servant forces him to pick up the trail of a cold case: the murder of an apothecary seven years before, whose only clue is an odd emblem carved into the doorway of the building where the man was killed. When Lenox finds a similar mark at the site of another murder, he begins to piece together a hidden pattern which leads him into the corridors of Parliament, the slums of East London, and ultimately the very heart of the British upper class.
At the same time, Lenox must contend with the complexities of his personal life: a surprising tension with his steadfast wife, Lady Jane, over her public support of the early movement for women’s suffrage; the arrival of Angela Lenox, a mysterious young cousin from India, with an unexpected companion; the dizzying ascent of his brother, Sir Edmund Lenox, to one of the highest political posts in the land; the growing family of his young partners in detection, Polly and Dallington; and the return of the problems that have long bedeviled one of his closest friends, the dashing Scottish physician Thomas McConnell.
Featuring a beloved cast of characters, a top-notch puzzle, and Finch’s trademark humor and richness of historical detail, The Hidden City is a novel by a master at the top of his form.
Charles Finch is a novelist and literary critic, author of the beloved Charles Lenox mysteries, following one of the earliest private detectives in Victorian London. The books have appeared multiple times on the USA Today bestseller list. He has written numerous essays, articles, and reviews for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Slate, New York, and The Guardian, and was honored with the 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing by the National Book Critics Circle. He subsequently served on the NBCC’s board, and has also been a board member of the arts colony Ragdale and was one of three judges for the 2021 Pen-Faulkner Prize. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.
Enjoy the conversation with Jess Armstrong and Charles Finch.