Now Read This: “The House on Vesper Sands,” by Paraic O’Donnell

In “The House on Vesper Sands,” by Paraic O’Donnell, girls are mysteriously disappearing at an alarming rate, but the police don’t seem too concerned. After all, it is the lower-working class — they probably just ran off or something. Except, that isn’t what is happening at all.

Gideon Bliss decides there is something more sinister going on when he comes to Soho from Cambridge at his uncle’s behest. When he arrives at the address listed, however, his uncle is nowhere to be found. Desperate to find shelter during the cold London winter night, Gideon seeks sanctuary in a local church. His night isn’t to be a peaceful one, though, when he stumbles upon Angie Tatton, an infatuation from the previous summer, semi-unconscious on the floor before the altar. Though somewhat delirious, Angie is able to inform Gideon she has been poisoned by some mystical black mist, and his uncle was captured by the same men who have harmed her. Gideon goes to get help, but to no avail, and by the time he gets back, she is gone. The next day, Gideon poses as part of the police force to team up with Inspector Cutter to try to solve this series of mysteries.

At the same time, Octavia Hillingdon of London’s newspaper The Gazette, stumbles onto the case when she gets an assignment to write a piece about Lord Strythe. He disappears suddenly from a party thrown in his honor, and Octavia decides to make it her mission to find out why. She makes the decision to check into Lord Strythe’s house the next morning. Maybe he had to run home, and if so, maybe she can talk to him in person. But her adventure to the manor leads to more questions than answers when she discovers the ongoing murder investigation. This is a little more than she bargained for, but oh, the story she could write once it is all wrapped up! So, off she goes, right behind Gideon and Inspector Cutter, to the house on Vesper Sands.

But as the two groups discover more clues and get more answers, they realize there is more going on here than anyone ever could have imagined.

Though I did find the start of this book a little slow, I am glad I stuck with it. The different layers to all the mystery bring out the best and worst parts of the individual characters and make the narrative as a whole more intriguing. Once you get past the slow beginning, the story really grips you tight and pulls you in until the end.

If you find yourself waiting for this book, here are a few similar titles to check out while you wait: “Where the Light Enters,” by Sara Donati (2019); “And Only to Deceive,” by Tasha Alexander (2005); and “Fortune Favors the Dead,” by Stephen Spotswood (2020). Happy reading!