By Gaslight: A Novel

"Readers may approach a doorstop novel of some 700-plus pages with a mixture of hope and dread, but Steven Price’s By Gaslight proves engrossing enough to warrant its forest-depleting bulk. This historical crime drama stars William Pinkerton, whose father founded the famous Pinkerton detective agency. William is something of a brute with heart; he possesses the essential noir detective traits of world weariness, barely controlled machismo and an aching, underlying sensitivity. Set primarily in Victorian London with side trips to the American Civil War and to the diamond mines of South America, By Gaslight is threaded through with a melancholy brilliance."