Investigative journalist Michael Merrick, on medical leave, finds himself coerced by his housemate and boss into dallying with the spirits after a neighbor’s séance results in a dead participant. The dead man was a doctor and had offices at the new and fascinatingly portrayed Harvard Medical School. Michael hurries around in a hansom cab, and as he sets about investigating the death via proper social calls on society matrons and Jane Austenish strolls in the shrubbery with comely maidens, we get to see an interesting piece of history unveil. Subsequent disappearances, murder attempts and finally murder of the remaining séance attendees escalates the public interest. Could the killer be a spirit?

Michael is aggravated by a new editor’s determination to milk every nickel out of the scandal. Extra editions, unsubstantiated theories, and editorials designed to put the gorgeous blonde medium in peril create an urgency in Michael to get to the bottom of the case. The chill of the setting and the seriousness of the events combine to make this a dark, absorbing historical mystery.

That said, I have an important caveat for some readers. I nearly recused myself from reviewing this book when I got to page nine. By the time I finished page ten, I had to put it down and mutter to myself. Any of you who are fans of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe books would have done the same. I mustered up the determination to finish the book, and found that, other than an ungracious imitation of that famous detective character, the book is a good one. In my favorable review of the first book in the series, I commented about the author’s inclination towards character highway robbery. Had I But Known that it would grow to the size of Mr. Wolfe’s girth in The Elusive Voice! Suffice it to say that the only thing missing is the elevator. And since elevators were invented during the time frame of this story, let’s not rule out the appearance of one in Book Three.

If you’ve been reading this, thinking, ‘who the heck is Nero Wolfe?’, then go ahead and read The Elusive Voice. But if you can recite Nero Wolfe’s hobbies, daily schedule and favorite color, I recommend you skip this series and turn instead to the even better Bruce Alexander historical mysteries. You won’t miss anything but the aggravation, confound it.

--Diane Gotfryd