The Woman in the Water is a prequel to a series of mystery novels I’ve now been writing for about twelve years - ten books in all prior to this one - and I think I just wanted to stir up my old initial love for the period (Victorian England) and the characters (an amateur detective and his various, idiosyncratic friends). Of all the books you could have written, how and why did you settle on this one? It’s a city that grows at the right pace to always feel fresh and always feel old simultaneously, which is uncommon in my experience.

My wife got a job here! I had spent a total of about forty hours in Chicago before we moved here five years ago, and what I mostly knew was that I hated the pizza (I’m originally from New York) and loved the Art Institute. But it’s home to me now, and a great home. An excellent addition to an already terrific series.Named after Margaret Anderson’s literary magazine founded in Chicago in 1914, The Little Interview asks Chicago poets and writers about their reading, writing, and relationship with Chicago.Ī graduate of Yale and Oxford, Charles Finch is the Chicago-based author of the Charles Lenox mysteries, including The Woman in the Water, out today from Minotaur Books, a “chilling new mystery takes readers back to Charles Lenox’s very first case and the ruthless serial killer who would set him on the course to become one of London’s most brilliant detectives.” He often reviews fiction for the Chicago Tribune, and won the National Book Critics Circle’s 2017 Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. It’s wonderful to see the neophyte Lenox develop the skills for which he becomes renowned in later books. “In this prequel to Finch’s long-standing historical series…Finch does a wonderful job of re-creating the atmosphere of mid-nineteenth-century England his characters are crisply drawn and believable. In the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, this newest mystery in the Charles Lenox series pits the young detective against a maniacal murderer who would give Professor Moriarty a run for his money. When the killer’s sights are turned toward those whom Lenox holds most dear, the stakes are raised and Lenox is trapped in a desperate game of cat and mouse. With few clues to go on, Lenox endeavors to solve the crime before another innocent life is lost. The writer’s first victim is a young woman whose body is found in a naval trunk, caught up in the rushes of a small islet in the middle of the Thames River. But when an anonymous writer sends a letter to the paper claiming to have committed the perfect crime-and promising to kill again―Lenox is convinced that this is his chance to prove himself. Scotland Yard refuses to take him seriously, and his friends deride him for attempting a profession at all. A young Charles Lenox struggles to make a name for himself as a detective-without a single case.

Charles finch the woman in the water