ARC Review: The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassel

The In Crowd
Author: Charlotte Vassel
Series: Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp (Book 2)
Publication: Doubleday (August 6, 2024)

Description: From the celebrated author of The Other Half comes a fabulous whodunit about two cold cases in which things go missing: a fourteen-year-old girl and a multi-million-dollar pension fund.

Early one morning, a men’s rowing team discovers a body floating face down in the Thames. Many years before, the chief executive of a clothing manufacturer walked off with a multi-million dollar corporate retirement fund and disappeared without a trace. Now, the discovery of this body has reopened that cold case.

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp has his own evening at the theater upended by the discovery of a dead body just a few seats away. Two decades ago, Eliza Chapel, a fourteen-year-old student at a girls boarding school in Cornwall, disappeared in the middle of the night under dubious circumstances. A second body and a second cold case reopened.

As DI Caius Beauchamp—along with his associates Matt Chung and Amy Noakes—investigates these parallel missing persons cases, he finds himself ensnared in the unexpected political machinations of a duke-in-waiting. This is yet another masterful mystery from Charlotte Vassell that is every bit as pointed as it is poignant.

My Thoughts: Detective Inspector Caius Beauchamp and his team are back in their second mystery. This one has the team assigned to two cold cases at the urging of a Member of Parliament. 

The first cold case has to do with the disappearance of a young girl named Eliza Chapel from St. Ursula's School for Young Ladies in Cornwall. The second cold case has to do with a missing chief executive, his secretary/lover, and a missing multi-millionaire pension fund. 

The first case comes to the team when Caius attends the theater and winds up sitting next to the corpse of an amateur detective who was fascinated with the case of the missing girl. The second case finds him when a rowing crew discover the body of a woman while they are practicing. The woman turns out to be the missing secretary who has returned from Brazil.

Caius also meets a woman at the theater and begins a relationship. However, as the investigation continues, the team discovers that Callie has connections to both of the cold cases, and she believes that her new relationship with Caius is a set up.

This was a very twisty mystery with new secrets revealed as the story progresses. I enjoyed this one very much and am eager for more adventures. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.