Now her books are being traditionally published, we’re having to wait a bit longer for new titles from KJ Charles owing to the longer lead-times usually required by the industry. Last year saw two new releases, the brilliant Death in the Spires in February followed by The Duke at Hazard, in July, but her next release, All of Us Murderers, isn’t due until this coming October. Yes, her books are well worth waiting for, but still… over a year without a new book from KJC? Oof! But then, a few months ago, she announced she’d be self-publishing a new book, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief! Copper Script, set in London in 1924, expertly combines a warm and tender romance between a very unlikely couple, with a tense mystery, lots of wry humour and a superbly realised historical setting.

The last thing Detective Sergeant Aaron Fowler wants to do is listen to his pompous arse of a cousin Paul ranting about the fact that his well-heeled fiancée has just dumped him because of what some charlatan said about Paul’s poor character after reading his handwriting. And Aaron wants even less wants to do as Paul is insisting he do and go and put the frighteners on the man. But, undeniably intrigued by some of the things his cousin has said, Aaron reluctantly agrees to go and have an unofficial word with Mr. Wildsmith to see if he is, as Paul suggests, engaging in fraudulent practices.

Joel Wildsmith lost a hand in the war, and, like so many of the other injured and disabled soldiers who made it through and returned home, has very few opportunities for employment open to him. He’s just about scraping a living as a grapholgist, analysing handwriting – for a fee – for people who want to know more about, say, a prospective employee or partner, and it so happened that Miss Barbara Wilson was one of those people. Joel doesn’t purport to be anything he’s not and he doesn’t claim to have any supernatural abilities, not like all those fake mediums and spiritualists who are taking advantage of the bereaved and grieving by pretending to be able to communicate with their lost loved ones. He doesn’t really know how or why he can do what he can do, he’s just very, very good at being able to form a judgment of character and motivations by studying a writer’s hand.

Aaron decides to pay the graphologist a visit anonymously and writes – by typed letter – to arrange an appointment. ‘Mr. Thurloe’ takes three samples of handwriting with him, determined to expose this so-called “Scientific Graphologist” as a fraud – but ends the session more confused then ever by Wildsmith’s uncanny ability to get such an accurate impression of the characters of the writers. It simply isn’t possible – the man must be running some kind of clever con and Aaron just can’t see it yet. Worse, there’s something about Joel Wildsmith, his odd mix of cockiness, aggression and vulnerablity, that has wormed its way under Aaron’s skin, drawing him in a way he can never allow and needs to shut down fast. He decides that maybe if he can just work out how Joel is doing what he’s doing, then maybe he’ll be able to get the blasted man out of his head. With the help of a former colleague, he comes up with an idea for a kind of blind test; he’ll present Joel with handwriting samples from suspects in an unsolved case and some from people completely unrelated, get him to write down his impressions and who he thinks is guilty, lock his answers away and only read them once the culprit is identified. That way there’s no possibility of Joel’s or anyone else’s views influencing his opinions. It’s a good plan, if he can find the right case – but it’ll have to wait because Aaron has been assigned to a new investigation, the possible murder of a private detective whose body has been fished out of the canal.

When that enquiry seems to hit nothing but road blocks, Aaron can turn his attention back to Joel and the experiment he hopes will prove – or disprove – Joel’s veracity once and for all. Of the eight written texts he gives Joel, Aaron knows the identity of three of the writers, and as before, the accuracy of Joel’s descsriptions of their personalities is truly uncanny. But their real problems begin when Joel’s interpretation of the character of the writer of one particular piece – which is actually unconnected to the chosen case – reinforces some suspicions Aaron has had for quite a while, and his determination to reveal the truth about this person are lands him – and Joel – in seriously hot water, putting his career at risk and their lives on the line.

Right from the start, Copper Script is engaging, funny, clever, and impossible to put down. As with all KJ Charles’ historicals, the setting and background are wonderfully detailed and superbly written – the London of the 1920s, with its criminal gangs and a police force that is sometimes not much better, the city-wide locations and its melting pot of different cultures is expertly and vividly depicted, and the narrative is full of the interesting, insightful, and sometimes damning societal observations that are characteristic of the author’s work.

The chemistry between Aaron and Joel fizzes right from their first meeting, and I liked them both individually and as a couple. Joel is a prickly, practical and self-confessed “stroppy bitch” who is doing his best to keep his head above water and works hard to earn money to improve his situation. His ability to provide such detailed character analysis based on handwriting is, perhaps, just bordering on the implausible, but it keeps to the right side of the line and his insights provide some thoughtful commentary on wider human nature as well as being relevant to the plot. Aaron is clearsighted, idealistic, and sensitive with a backbone of steel, although of late he’s begun to feel he’s fighting a losing battle against the internal corruption in the Met, and he’s exhausted. He’s reserved and very tightly controlled, ruthlessly supressing his emotional life and his attraction to men – until he meets Joel and something just… clicks, no matter how much he wishes it hadn’t. Their initial antagonism – the sceptic and the suspected con-man – sniping and pushing each other’s buttons is truly compelling, and watching them slowly move from that to a tentative truce and then to trust and genuinely caring for and finding solace in each other is an absolute joy.

The reason this one gets a B+ instead of an A grade is down to the resolution of the mystery plot. Half of the story is build up and scene and character-setting, taking the time to explore Joel’s ability and his and Aaron’s attraction to one another – which is all wonderful – and when the murder plotline kicks up a gear at the beginning of the second half, the tension is ramped up and up absolutely brilliantly. But after all that nail-biting build-up, the resolution feels rushed. Don’t get me wrong; it’s solid and well-executed – everything that happens is seeded throughout the rest of the story and nothing comes out of the blue – but some of it happens off page and all of it happens in about the final ten percent of the book.

Even so, Copper Script is a fabulous read; clever, funny, warm, and tender, with a high-stakes plotline, a well-researched historical background and two wonderfully engaging and charismatic leads, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.