Book Description 

The newspapers called us the Seven Wonders. We were a group of friends, that’s all, and then Toby died. Was killed. Murdered.

1905. A decade after the grisly murder of Oxford student Toby Feynsham, the case remains hauntingly unsolved. For Jeremy Kite, the crime not only stole his best friend, it destroyed his whole life. When an anonymous letter lands on his desk, accusing him of having killed Toby, Jem becomes obsessed with finally uncovering the truth.

Jem begins to track down the people who were there the night Toby died – a close circle of friends once known as the ‘Seven Wonders’ for their charm and talent – only to find them as tormented and broken as himself. All of them knew and loved Toby at Oxford. Could one of them really be his killer?

As Jem grows closer to uncovering what happened that night, his pursuer grows bolder, making increasingly terrifying attempts to silence him for good. Will exposing Toby’s killer put to rest the shadows that have darkened Jem’s life for so long? Or will the gruesome truth only put him in more danger?

Some secrets are better left buried…

From the bestselling, acclaimed author of The Magpie Lord and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen comes a chilling historical mystery with a sting in the tail. You won’t be able to put this gripping story down!

My Review 

I have been a KJ Charles fan for years, so naturally I was excited about the opportunity to read her latest book. 

The term “dark academia” is overused, but much like the gold standard of the genre The Secret History, this book is about a group of friends who experienced a terrible loss during their university days. However, in this case, The Seven Wonders did not conspire as a group to murder one of their own. Nevertheless, golden boy Toby was murdered, shattering their sense of camaraderie and forcing the tight-knit group apart. 

Protagonist Jem has spent the last ten years in relative mediocrity, eking out a humble existence as a clerk. Perhaps he might have ascended higher, had his aspirations not been cut short by Toby’s murder. Jem would like nothing more to move on from his Oxford days, but when a letter accusing him of the crime is sent to his workplace, he is forced to acknowledge everything he has been trying to forget. 

The best thing about the mystery is that it is much more complicated than one would think. I’m going to try to remain vague to avoid spoilers, but Toby’s murder was not THE incident that drove the group of friends apart. It was the final incident, and the revelation of secrets from a decade ago leads to some unpredictable reactions. 

I would absolutely recommend Death in the Spires. As KJ has said, this is not a romance novel, but there is an element of romance. I enjoyed the rapport between the two lovers. The denouement was more poignant rather than satisfying; after all, there’s no honor in schadenfreude. I certainly hope that this isn’t the last of Charles’ historical mysteries. 

I received a digital ARC of this book from Storm Publishing/NetGalley