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John Rawlings is a well-to-do apothecary in London. His wife is currently expecting their first child and is sent to the country to enjoy some fresh air before being confined to the birthing room. Rawlings has several things with which to keep himself occupied as he awaits this event. Not only does his business demand attention, he finds himself involved with a crime. A man comes racing into Rawlings' store begging for a place to hide from a terrifying woman. Rawlings quickly hides him and goes to confront the woman. Mrs Ariande Bussell is a woman who knows what she wants. And what she wants is Aidan Fenchurch, the man hiding in Rawlings' back room. She does not leave easily; however, Rawlings convinces her that Fenchurch is not there. Apparently these two once had an affair and Bussell is unwilling, after all of these years, to let him go. Fenchurch fearing for his life asks Rawlings to deliver private letters to John Fielding, a blind lawyer, in case of his death. Fenchurch is murdered shortly after this conversation and Rawlings finds himself confronting two families -- the Bussells and the Fenchurches -- in order to solve this death. As the body count begins to stack up, Rawlings realizes that he too is an intended target of the murderer or murderers. The most interesting element of DEATH IN THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS is the interactions of John Fielding with the other characters. Fielding is a minor character in this book; however, in some ways this mysterious nature makes him more interesting. For those who do not know, Fielding would later go on to create the Bow Street Runners. The way Fielding's mind understands the nature of the clues and of the characters is vital to the book. However, since Fielding is not a major character, several more people are murdered before the murderer is found. DEATH IN THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS is very busy. Considering everyone had to use horse and carriage to get from place to place, the characters really seemed to get around. In addition, there were numerous funerals and other trips Rawlings found necessary to find the murderer. This book made all of these trips seem effortless. While I admittedly know little about the geography of England, not all of these trips were to nearby towns and villages. The only other disappointment with this book is the lack of attention paid to medicine and Rawlings' actual job. While medicine and disease was still not modernized, it was slowly beginning to change and major controversies were beginning to occur in the field. Lake could quite easily have included a little more information about the opinions of doctors, the type of training an apothecary had as well as what was in the tonics Rawlings kept handing out. In addition, this information would have helped the plot not hindered it. DEATH IN THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS is the ninth book featuring John Rawlings.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, December 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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