A Morbid Passion (Selby Bigge #2)

Holtom’s shimmering sequel to A Queer Case effectively grounds a historical whodunit in the social prejudices of its era. In 1930 England, homosexuality is illegal, forcing gay Brits such as bank clerk Selby Bigge and his aristocratic friend Theodora Smythe into fake relationships. Selby and Theo’s ruse is put to the test when they’re invited to dine at the home of doctor Hector Fortescue, who believes he can cure “homosexualists,” and his wife Helena, a eugenicist who considers homosexuality a moral blight that must be stamped out for the good of society. Their son Lancelot is supposedly one of Hector’s “successes,” but Selby and Theo soon discover that he remains as “fruity as a pineapple.” When a member of the Fortescue household is bludgeoned to death during a servants’ ball that Selby and Theo attend shortly after their dinner with the family, the pair once again turn to sleuthing. Holtom’s Wodehousian prose (“The reasons for our presence were as convoluted as the sentences preceding this one but, for now, my task was to eat without dribbling”) provides levity to a story that’s tragic at its core. It’s clear that this series has staying power. (June)