A Child Lost: A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel
This fifth in the award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Clive Howard series, set in Depression-era Chicago, finds Henrietta in mourning after a miscarriage but determined to shed her grief and self-pity. Eager to distract his detective partner/wife, Clive takes the case of a spiritualist who may be stealing valuables from gullible clients. Meanwhile Henrietta’s sister, Elsie, asks her to find the mother of a young orphan girl, who is in the care of Elsie’s German immigrant friend, Gunther. Clues to the mother’s whereabouts lead Henrietta and Clive to Dunning, a hospital for the insane, where they are told she is dead.
A Child Lost doesn’t stand alone very well, so the story is not a smooth arc from outset to finale in the way of most mysteries. Cox’s literary device of rolling part of the story into the next book makes it feel more like a long-running family saga. Case in point: the spiritualist subplot peters out, to be revisited next time, according to the epilogue. Characters that are fixtures from earlier books and separate stories overwhelmed me, but I couldn’t place them easily in this plotline. Even had that not been the case, the narrative is slow in places; the pace doesn’t pick up until the visit to Dunning. In her author’s notes, Cox discusses her dilemma of how much of her research into insane asylum abuse to include – a fine line – but there isn’t as great a sense of shock in those scenes as there could be. That said, the time and place are well drawn, and Henrietta and Clive are a highly engaging couple. Fans of the series will be eager to discover how Elsie, Gunther, Rose and Stanley follow their destinies. Recommended, but start with A Girl Like You.
