Denton Books in Order

The Denton novels are historical mysteries set in London in the early years of the twentieth century. Their hero is Denton, an American Civil War veteran and former frontier lawman who has left that life behind, crossed the Atlantic, and become a successful novelist. He wants to write, argue with his publisher, and avoid fresh trouble. London has other plans.

Denton is an outsider in several ways. He is American in a sharply class-conscious city, a man with a violent past trying to live by the pen, and someone who sees through polite society without quite fitting into the lives of the people on its margins. Those tensions give the mysteries their edge.

The series begins with The Frightened Man, when a visitor claims to have seen Jack the Ripper and is soon found dead. Denton is drawn into the case despite himself. The Bohemian Girl follows a delayed plea for help into the city's artistic and poorer districts, while The Second Woman starts with a body found in Denton's own garden. Each novel gives him a new crime, but the setting and relationships continue to deepen.

London is never just wallpaper here.

Cameron uses the city as a place of crowded streets, social reform, prejudice, political agitation, new police methods, and disruptive technology. Denton moves between private houses, rough neighborhoods, country estates, theatres, hotels, and official offices. The mysteries often expose the gap between public respectability and what powerful people would rather keep hidden.

Denton is helped and challenged by Janet Striker, a determined social worker and his complicated lover, and by Sergeant Atkins, his former soldierly aide. Their arguments, loyalty, and shared history give the books warmth alongside some quite grim crimes. Denton himself can be stubborn and impulsive, but he is also alert to people who have been ignored or dismissed.

The later books take him beyond London as well, including a case in Naples and another in Oxford. Start with The Frightened Man and read in order. The cases can be enjoyed separately, but Denton's past and his relationships with Janet and Atkins are much more satisfying when allowed to build from book to book.