Genre: Historical, Mystery, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Ulysses
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About The Book
Graverobbing, a faceless corpse, a woman dead from shock, and a woodland cemetery where men indulge their forbidden desires. What ties these to the pastor of the Stoke Newington Congregationalist Chapel, a Greek immigrant, and an affluent family? Everything is connected, but the puzzle is complex, and it’s up to Jack Merrit to solve the macabre mystery.
The Review
This is Benjamin Baxter’s book. A lovely feature of this series is the drawings of one of the characters at the start of each book—supposedly drawn by one of the denizens of Delamere House. This one features the young coachman, former street urchin and rent-boy, with his long blond hair and seductive smile. The cover of book 6 in the Delamere series shows Jack Merrit and Benji Baxter (known as Bax) running through a cemetery. Quite on the nose.
Of course there’s a murder to be solved (two in fact); and much of the action here takes place in Abney Park, a famous cemetery in the Stoke Newington part of London. But, as is always true in Jackson Marsh’s books, it is the historical context that makes these detective adventures so captivating.
The cemetery, you see, is also a place where, under the cover of darkness and foliage, men seek out other men for mutual pleasure. This becomes a critical aspect of the plot, and it also allows the reader insight into this aspect of British social and legal history at just about the moment Oscar Wilde was sent to prison for two years on the say-so of his traitorous aristocratic boyfriend (that was 1895). Bax is completely familiar with this milieu of London, while Jack learns about it for the first time as this case unfolds.
Of course, we also learn about the invention of the Kodak camera and the presence of the independent Congregationalist Church in England. Marsh’s books are always fascinating because of his careful research; and there’s a constant reminder of the importance of horses and carriages in the lives of the Delamere Investigators. Together, it makes a compelling and surprisingly moving tale. It lets us think about the gross injustice of the British attitude towards what we now call gay men; as well as the lonely lives forced upon men who were different. Lord Clearwater, patron of the agency, saw this and tried to do something about it—and the result is these two series of books.
As is true of each of these books, Jack Merrit begins to perceive the men around him in Delamere House with an increasingly affectionate eye. Bax has flirted and taunted him since he arrived on the scene; but now he’s become a colleague, a friend, and a fixed part of the household. It’s a great way to depict the idea of ‘found family’ in a way that feels appropriately 19th century.
5 stars.
The Reviewer
Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave It to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator since 1980, Ulysses has never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice’s landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia, the sequel to Desmond, is his second novel.
Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his husband of over 41 years and their two almost-grown children.
By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents’ idea of a joke: he is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother was the President’s last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant’s Tomb in New York City.
