DEATH IN HELLFIRE - Deryn Lake

I've never been one much for historicals, so I was mildly surprised by how much I enjoyed DEATH IN HELLFIRE.  Asked by the blind beak himself, Sir John Fielding, John Rawlings launches himself into the investigation of the notorious Hellfire Club.   Worried by the sketchy artifice he has developed to disguise himself, concerned about the rumours of debauchery but more worried about the sinister aspects of the same club, he travels to the home of Sir Francis Dashwood and inveigles himself into the family circle.  

His disguise, and position within the household is complicated when he finds that one of the guests of the house is his ex-lover, actress and now wife of Charles, Marquess of Arundel.  Charles is a thoroughly unsatisfactory sort of chap, and a fellow member of the Hellfire Club.  There are two parts to this story - the investigation of the Hellfire Club, and the suspicious death of two of the guests of the Dashwood household, which occurred around the time of the gathering of the Club that Rawlings is able to get himself invited to.

I suspect part of the reason that I enjoyed DEATH IN HELLFIRE so much was the slightly wry sense of humour from the central character.  John Rawlings doesn't take himself or the situations he finds himself in overly seriously, and there is a real wit and charm to the way that he progresses through the investigation, and to a lot of the side characters throughout the book.  The writing style can be quite flamboyant but it's very engaging, and the settings themselves aren't too glamourised or, for that matter, overly dire.  It also helps that the whole thing whips along at a great pace, without the need for great daring and over the top doings.  

DEATH IN HELLFIRE is the 12th book in the John Rawlings series by Deryn Lake - which is a pseudonym of historical novelist Dinah Lampitt.