An unlikely detective probes the murder of an unpleasant man in Pepper’s mystery.

The mysterious Hamish Rosser, a shady Scottish peer of the realm, is a powerful man who keeps valuable secrets. With his reluctant assistant, the down-on-his-luck journalist Ollie Moorhouse (“The truth is the Scotsman fucking terrifies him”), Hamish pays mysterious visits to a variety of characters: He offers the bumptious Lord Arnold Leebury a post in government and obliquely threatens Arnold’s young and beautiful wife; he pledges suspiciously large donations to Greg Jacobs, a lonely widower who runs a charity for troubled youth. Many people have reason to murder Rosser, and, sure enough, somebody does, leaving his body in the woods. As the narrative unfolds, the suspects are drawn with more depth. Arnold’s wife, Magdalena, is cleverer and more of a survivor than she seems. The mostly affable Arnold is desperate to keep his new political appointment—maybe desperate enough to get rid of Hamish. Greg, still mourning the loss of his wife, is struggling to connect with the young people under his supervision. Ollie, the one person readers know is innocent, grows into a bumbling but likable detective to solve the case. Pepper’s prose is brisk and evocative, bringing a variety of British locales vividly to life. Hamish, the murder victim, is oily and nasty enough for the reader to be happy when he meets his end. The other characters have well developed and distinct personalities, and their stories are compelling even when they’re not engaged sleuthing. (Magdalena, who seems like the most likely suspect, is particularly three-dimensional, even as she keeps her secrets.) This is, however, a murder mystery, and the author summons a fun Agatha Christie–like atmosphere as each character, in turn, comes under suspicion. Despite this great promise, the pacing in the final third undercuts the tension, and the revelation of the murderer feels a bit anticlimactic. Still, the satisfying conclusions of many of the characters’ stories are enough to carry the reader through to the final pages.

This cozy yarn with compelling characters will please mystery fans, despite some fumbling at the finish line.