Review: A Study in Secrets: A Redacted Man Mystery by Jeffrey Siger

 

As A Study in Secrets: A Redacted Man Mystery by Jeffrey Siger begins, Michael likes to sit in his penthouse window and imagine the lives of the people he sees that pass by his home. The wealthy recluse has a good perch as his townhouse faces an entrance to the neighborhood park directly across the street. A former intelligence operative who gave a lot to this country, physically, emotionally, and every other way possible, lives a life of quiet isolation. He rarely goes out and has very limited social contact. If it wasn’t for his housekeeper, Mrs. Baker, he might not speak to another person for days.

 

He has many people to people watch from his perch as he envisions their imaginary lives. He does not know their names, their occupations, or anything else real about them. He watches them, the strays and the regulars, and creates stories in his head of them and how they are going about their day. That includes a regular, a young woman in her gray coat, who daily sits on one of the park benches at the entrance to the park. She arrives shortly before dawn each day, and once the sun is up, walks deeper inside the park and becomes lost to his view.

 

While he imagines her life one way, her actual reality is far different. She has a routine that she must follow, with no exceptions. Her boss made that very clear on her first day. The same boss who is soon very dead on the floor of the apartment she shares with two other women.

 

Thanks to her boss being shot in the head, she now has no job. She can’t stay there. She can’t go to the cops. She certainly can’t tell anyone about her job. How much the roommates know about what she does, she has no idea, but they can’t be trusted either. She has no money, no resources, and no option other than to sleep on the bench at the edge of the park. It is dangerous, but that park bench is the one place that she feels any safety at all.

 

Fortunately, for her, Michael is awake and watching when she goes to the bench and lies down to sleep. He has always been intrigued by her. Haunted by those he failed to save, the elderly man is not going to let her sleep there unprotected. He certainly can’t just walk over and bring her home. With no other choice, as he sees it, he calls a person he has not spoken to in decades to ask for help for her.

 

That action by Michael starts a domino chain of events as the figure on the bench needs a lot of help. That help will come in many different ways as the threat to her life evolves again and again.

 

Beyond the obvious references to the legendary Sherlock Holmes, what struck my me most was how much this setup reminded me of the original The Equalizer TV show. During the last half of the 80s, CBS aired the drama. Edward Woodward was the dashing and sophisticated Robert McCall. He was a former intelligence operative and a man of considerable means. He was also your way out if you had no one else to help. All you had to do was call him by way of his newspaper ad. Back then, it was must see viewing for my late wife and me. It was also far and away superior to the rebooted version that CBS came up with in recent years.

 

That premise seems to be at work here, as I read the novel. Elderly man with a cane and plenty of money, a recluse who retired after a long career in the intelligence services, disengaged from the world, is pushed into a situation where he is compelled to help a very vulnerable young woman. That push to help begins to break him free of the protective shell he has created around himself. He gradually reengages with the world and the people around him, one slow step at a time.

 

That decision to contact somebody he has not spoken to in decades to get her help as she laid on the bench that cold night, starts a chain that changes everything for quite a few people in this very enjoyable first book of the new series. A solidly good read that gradually builds the tempo to a very satisfying conclusion. A Study in Secrets: A Redacted Man Mystery by Jeffrey Siger is well your time and attention.

 

 

For another perspective on the book, make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s recent review here.

 

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3LPgXhO 

 

 

My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, Severen House, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026