Francis' books are really not detective stories, or more precisely, not searching for criminals, but for insight. Questions such as - What causes hate? Where does free will start? Can we control wickedness? Whence courage? Where does love arise? Why? Mental illness inborn? How to reach the heart?The puzzle -''What made one man good, I wondered, and another man bad: one man to seek to build, the other to frighten and destroy. The acid irony was that the bad might feel more satisfied and fulfilled than the good''So true!This work does outstanding job of presenting questions and finding answers. In fact, dialogue refers to Hamlet several times. This work borrows from that drama. Great!For example, the villain is confronted with one outraged victim -'' 'You told me Lenny would give evidence against me, and I didn’t know you’d frightened the poor boy with such a terrible threat. You told me he hated me and would be glad to tell lies about me.'The enormity of it almost choked her.'I don’t know how you can live with yourself. I don’t know how anyone can be so full of sin.'Her voice resonated with the full old meaning of the word: an offense against God. It was powerful, I thought, and it had silenced Filmer completely.''Wonderful drama!Another relentless revelation -''“You can’t prove any of this,” Filmer said defiantly.“We all believe,” said Bill Baudelaire’s voice, “that with you, Mr. Filmer, it is the urge to crush people and make them suffer that sets you going. We know you could afford to buy good horses. We know that for you simply owning horses isn’t enough.”Cruelty for enjoyment - what a motive! Wow!''But why should anyone do that?”“Grow up, sonny. There are people in this world who cause trouble because it makes them feel important. They’re ineffective, eh?, in their lives. So they burn things and smash things, paint slogans on walls ... leave their mark on something, eh? And wreck trains. Put slabs of concrete on the rails. I’ve seen it done. Power over others, that’s what it’s about. A grudge against the Lorrimores, most like. Power over them, over their possessions. That’s what those investigators think.”This is wickedness as sin, not sickness. What a relief!This work is written as a constant conflict of good vs evil, righteousness vs wickedness.And yet, Francis does not fall into self-righteousness. He shows not all badness is wicked choise. For example, one youth is uncovered with a history of torturing cats. Narrative notes -''I wasn’t so sure about that: didn’t know to what extent she was responsible for his behavior. But perhaps not much. Perhaps no one deserved a son like Sheridan. Perhaps people like Sheridan were born that way, as if without arms.''This is not just blanket condemnation, but awareness of human weakness. Many other careful insights, all done smoothly and with taste.Wonderful!I read this years ago in paperback. Lost it. This time on kindle (won't lose it!). Like kindle better, highlights and fonts.(Did not find any errors or problems with kindle edition. Great!)