Publication Date: April 11, 2024
Synopsis:
The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.
1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.
Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?
As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?
Some secrets are better left buried…
From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!
My Review:
This was incredible. I have long loved KJ Charles’ books and this one, while a mystery rather than a romance, is no different. I love it just as much. Her romances have long contained mysteries, so this wasn’t *that* much of a departure from her usual fare.
I found the story, told alternately between past and present, to be completely gripping in both timelines for the entirety of the book. I had no idea who murdered Toby, and like Jem I vacillated between which of the former friends I most suspected up until the end.
I like that it didn’t end there. I liked that it was a complex issue. I really liked all the themes explored.
The friend group was charming and wonderful and terrible and I slowly fell in love with each of them over the course of the novel. I love the way everything wrapped up, and I loved the healing and growth that happened at the end. It was everything I wanted.
The setting of Oxford was so tangible and concrete. Despite never having been myself, I felt Jem’s ambivalence for the place, the way he loved and hated it, and the way it had such a hold on him. It felt real. For that matter, each of the characters felt real and three-dimensional and present.
The writing was stellar as always and it was a joy and a pleasure to read. I will absolutely be reading any and all future mysteries KJ Charles chooses to write, in addition to her romances.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for providing an early copy for review.
Favorite Quotes
He wondered as he walked if he would stand at the pillar box hesitating, if he’d walk up and down, plagued by doubt and fear and second thoughts, but in the end, it was too damned cold, so he just dropped the letters in.
Death in the Spires by KJ Charles
Ignore any knocking; it will be students, thus unimportant.
Death in the Spires by KJ Charles
Jem didn’t know anyone else who’d use semicolons in a brief scrawl, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed that sort of thing.
Death in the Spires by KJ Charles
He could put on his coat and shoes over his night things to go and ask; he’d look highly eccentric, but this was Oxford.
Death in the Spires by KJ Charles
Whimsical Dragonette 