The Lizard of the title is the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, an isolated spot in the far west of England, where Marconi has built one of his first wireless telegraph sites. He's having enough problems trying to fill the unrealistic promises of his company's board, without having to deal with the apparent mayhem going on there. There's been sabotage and a few too many accidental deaths, including the man Marconi relies on most. Charles Sheridan's longtime friend and neighbor Bradford Marsden is one of Marconi's investors. Therefore it seems natural to bring experienced amateur scientist and sleuth Sheridan in to investigate and make sure things are resolved before an impending visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales. Which also makes it easier for Bradford's sister Patsy to pressure Kate Sheridan into accompanying her to Cornwall to help with a problem of her own there.

This is a series I'd lost a bit of interest in, as it seemed to focus increasingly on spotlighting famous real life historical figures, with some of the plots seeming little more than an excuse to do so. The current book certainly brings in Marconi and some other well known names from the early days of wireless, but you don't feel like they're dominating the stage too much, as I'd felt was a problem in prior books. While the distinctive and dramatic Cornwall scenery was almost a real life character of its own. As a result I enjoyed it much more than the last book I'd read in this series, enough to go back and check out some of the ones in between that I've missed.

If you enjoy light historicals that are character driven but also provide some interesting information about the technological changes and real life people of the time, you'll enjoy this visit to Edwardian England.