As a student of languages—Latin, French, German—I was always fascinated with etymology. No, not the study of bugs, the study of the roots of words. No surprise then when I happened upon a series that explored the roots of detective fiction and was similarly charmed. These are William J. Palmer's The Detective and Mr. Dickens; The Highwayman and Mr. Dickens; and The Hoydens and Mr. Dickens, published through St. Martin's Press in 1990, 1992 and 1997 respectively. Palmer's prem