Book Review: Fatally Inferior by Lyn Squire

Fatally Inferior, the second book in the Dunston Burnett trilogy by Lyn Squire, takes place in 1872, one year after the events of the first book, Immortalised to Death, and also a year after Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man.

The story brings us back to the heart of Victorian England, to a society still trying to come to terms with Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking theory of evolution. While using the backdrop of The Descent of Man, Lyn Squire creates once again an intriguing tale of murder, deceit, and social injustice, while at the same time combining real situations and historical figures with fictional characters and events.

The novel focuses on the disappearance of Darwin’s daughter-in-law, Henrietta Darwin. Henrietta disappeared from Down House, Charles Darwin’s home. Inspector Jeremiah Fickett of Scotland Yard officially leads the investigation that immediately points at Henrietta’s husband, Richard Darwin.

Private investigator Archibald Line, a retired detective and now a private investigator, is also trying to find out what happened, especially as he is a friend of the Darwin family. Initially, he suspects that Henrietta might have committed suicide; however, further evidence shows that she might have been abducted instead. While Fickett’s fingers point at Richard Darwin, Line, with his methodical approach to gathering evidence and always looking at the smallest details, finds several inconsistencies in the original theory.

Using multiple points of view, the novel alternates between several characters, including Archibald Line, the retired detective, Dunston Burnett, the retired bookkeeper turned amateur detective who is Line’s friend and eventually takes over the investigation, and Jeremiah Fickett, the Chief of Detectives at Scotland Yard.

I enjoyed coming back to already familiar characters, like Dunston Burnett, the bookkeeper who was also involved in the previous novel’s case.

The story has several surprising twists and turns, and while the main characters pursue justice, they soon uncover hidden motives, resentment, false accusations, and revenge during their investigations.

In fact, revenge is probably the main driving force of the novel. It shows how the desire for revenge can not only be a strong motivator for various characters but can also fully consume them, pushing them to commit evil, cunning, and cruel acts that can and will hurt several innocent people. Nothing is really as it originally seems. Some people hide deep, and the story slowly reveals all these hidden truths.

The pursuit of justice is the novel’s second main theme. There are three main characters involved in the investigation, and from the original false leads, each character uncovers more and more clues that eventually determine the ultimate shocking truth that I have to admit I didn’t see coming at all.

While the story’s ending shows justice served based on how much harm the antagonists caused in the name of revenge, I do feel that the main culprit got off rather lightly. Although considering that the story takes place in the 19th century, maybe they did get what they deserved. After all, life in a crazy asylum should have been worse than death during those rather underdeveloped times.

Finally, I also see hope in this novel. After all the tragedy in their lives, Charles and his wife, Emma, worked on establishing a home for abandoned and orphaned children, which implies healing and redemption.

Compared to Immortalized to Death, I find that Fatally Inferior retains the Victorian charm but delves into darker themes with a heavier tone. Thus, I am looking forward to the future direction of the series. Will the third book in the trilogy stay closer to a Victorian cozy mystery or will it explore more deeply into the dark side of human nature?

The book can be preordered on Amazon.