And by Fire

Two fire-related mysteries set centuries apart drive this middling double whodunit from Hawtrey (Ribbons of Scarlet as Sophie Perinot). In present-day London, Det. Insp. Nigella Parker, an arson specialist, is assigned to an odd blaze—someone set fire to a wooden figure of a person at the site of a memorial to the Great Fire of London of 1666. Nigella’s fears that the vandalism is the precursor to something worse are validated when a burnt corpse, posed as if crucified, is found in the Inner Temple. A necktie bearing the image of St. Paul’s Church was bound around its head, with a message written on its back that reads in part: “this fool died for all sinners who mistake celebrity for genius.” Meanwhile, in 1666, Queen Catherine Braganza’s maid, Margaret Dove, looks into the intriguing, if historically unsupported, theory that the conflagration that gutted the city was set intentionally for a sinister purpose. Neither lead is memorable, and the past story line offers a shocking solution to the fire’s origin that will strike many as unpersuasive. This is no An Instance of the Fingerpost. Agent: Michael Carr, Veritas Literary. (May)