For fans of C. S. Harris comes Laura Joh Rowland’s fifth Victorian mystery where Sarah must confront her own ghosts–and face her most elusive and deadly adversary yet.Victorian London is a city gripped by belief in the supernatural–but a grisly murder becomes a matter of flesh and blood for intrepid photographer Sarah Bain.London, October 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is overjoyed … 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is overjoyed to marry her beloved Detective Sergeant Barrett–but the wedding takes a sinister turn when the body of a stabbing victim is discovered in the crypt of the church. Not every newlywed couple begins their marriage with a murder investigation, but Sarah and Barrett, along with their friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O’Reilly, take the case.
The dead man is Charles Firth, whose profession is “spirit photography”– photographing the ghosts of the deceased. When Sarah develops the photographs he took in the church, she discovers one with a pale, blurred figure attacking the victim. The city’s spiritualist community believes the church is haunted and the figure is a ghost. But Sarah is a skeptic, and she and her friends soon learn that the victim had plenty of enemies in the human world–including a scientist who studies supernatural phenomena, his psychic daughter, and an heiress on a campaign to debunk spiritualism and expose fraudulent mediums.
In the tunnels beneath a demolished jail, a ghost-hunting expedition ends with a new murder, and new suspects. While Sarah searches for the truth about both crimes, she travels a dark, twisted path into her own family’s sordid history. Her long lost father is the prime suspect in a cold-case murder, and her reunion with him proves that even the most determined skeptic can be haunted by ghosts from the past.
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I really enjoyed Portrait of Peril! Sarah Bain is a fascinating protagonist, trying to come to terms with all the different roles in her life including the newest one of wife. The surrounding line up of characters is equally interesting – her new husband Detective Sergeant Barrett as well as her housemates and colleagues Lord Hugh and Mick O’Reilly. Having your wedding day interrupted with a dead man in the church isn’t the most auspicious way to start a marriage but I quickly figured out that an event like this was par for the course for Sarah and the her friends. Spiritual photography and the controversy surrounding it in the late 19th century seems front and center to finding the killer of the dead photographer. I have to say that the actual perpetrators were not a shock but the motive was very surprising. I have not yet read the preceding books but shall do so as I found this latest book such a good read. Thank you to #NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of #PortraitofPeril.
This series is one of my favorites. In this, the 5th in the series finds Sarah finally marrying Thomas Barrett and that should be a very happy day. Not long after the ‘I Do’s” murder joins the festivities and Sarah starts her married life investigating the murder, Add to that, the victim turns out to be a photographer who helped Sarah get her start as a professional photographer. His name was Charles Firth and he was making his living as a spirit photographer. Some believe and some say it’s a scam. I found that theme to be fascinating.
There is a lot going on besides tracking down the killer. Sarah is still dealing with the issue of her father and the murder he supposedly committed. It comes to the party, too. Aided by her husband, her half sister and others they keep up a fast pace as they follow the clues to the solution.
The Victorian setting of London in 1890 lends itself to a grittier historical mystery. It’s well crafted with an excellent pace and a complex puzzle. I’m already reserving a spot on my TBR list for the next in the series.
My thanks to the publisher, Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
I was part way through this story and some of the “bad” characters were annoying me so much I wanted to stop reading. I kept reminding myself that things would come right in the end.
Well, they do, up to a point.
The primary mystery is resolved, in a surprising way.
The over-arching challenge about her father remains and her doubts continue as to his innocence.
I anticipate that unless several characters have a major change in their attitudes towards Sarah, I will have a similar challenge with the next book.
So be it.
Portrait Of Peril is the fifth book in the Victorian Mystery series by Laura Joh Rowland.
The wedding of Sarah Bain, newspaper photographer, and Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett is about to begin, and Sarah’s biggest fear is that when the question is there anyone who objects to the marriage, is that her mother-in-law to be will say yes. Sarah was relieved when there was no objection, but the relief is short-lived. Shortly after Sarah and Thomas’ wedding vows are exchanged, there is a scream, and the person yells that there is a dead body in the crypt. Sarah and Thomas immediately head for the crypt. When they arrive, Sarah is surprised to see the body of Charles Firth. Firth had sold Sarah her first camera when she decided to follow her father’s footsteps and be a photographer. Sarah is surprised to learn that Firth is now a spirit photographer. Thomas begins his investigation of the scene while Sarah photographs the scene. As the investigation into Firth’s death proceeds, Thomas and Sarah will soon be investigating a faction that believes that there is no such thing as ghosts, therefore impossible to photograph them. They are also looking into Firth’s widow and the publisher of the book of spirits that Firth had published. When at an area where ghosts reportedly have been seen, there is another body found. When the body is discovered, Mike, Sarah’s friend, is found holding the used knife. Sarah’s nemesis, Inspector Reed, immediately arrests young Mike.
Besides searching for Firth’s killer, Sarah is also dealing with trying information that clears her father from charges of murder when she was in her early teen years. In addition to Mike, she counts on Lord Hugh to help with her photographing and investigations, who has gone missing.
The story is well-written and plotted, and I feel that it is historically correct. The characters are well-developed and believable. I would like to call all of them a friend.
I will be watching for the next book in this exciting series.
The story begins with the wedding of our protagonist Sarah Bain, a newspaper photographer, to Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett. It is interrupted by screams when a charwoman discovers a body in the crypt of the church. Thomas and the police attending the wedding rush off as well as the newspaper folks there. Sarah is among them and recognizes the victim, Charles Firth, as a photographer who had been helpful to her in her past.
Mr. Firth is a spirit photographer now and in investigating his death, they learn more about the field, those who believe in spirits and those who do not. There are many potential suspects and then another murder occurs.
I enjoyed the mystery and I thought the author did a great job of having us travel along with Sarah and Thomas as they attempt to solve the murders. And the ending was thrilling!
There is a subplot involving Sarah’s father and her attempts to help exonerate her. Sarah is very conflicted, especially as she attempts to resolve her memories with what she learns and the impact her upbringing and family have on her present life.
I enjoyed this book but it is the fifth in the series and while I certainly didn’t struggle with the mystery, it might have been helpful to read earlier books to understand the characters and their relationships better.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Portrait of Peril
A Victorian Mystery Series #5
Laura Joh Rowland
https://www.facebook.com/laurajohrowlandauthor/
Release Date 01/12/2020
Publisher Crooked Lane Books
For fans of C. S. Harris comes Laura Joh Rowland’s fifth Victorian mystery where Sarah must confront her own ghosts–and face her most elusive and deadly adversary yet.
Victorian London is a city gripped by belief in the supernatural–but a grisly murder becomes a matter of flesh and blood for intrepid photographer Sarah Bain.
London, October 1890. Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is overjoyed to marry her beloved Detective Sergeant Barrett–but the wedding takes a sinister turn when the body of a stabbing victim is discovered in the crypt of the church. Not every newlywed couple begins their marriage with a murder investigation, but Sarah and Barrett, along with their friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O’Reilly, take the case.
The dead man is Charles Firth, whose profession is “spirit photography”– photographing the ghosts of the deceased. When Sarah develops the photographs he took in the church, she discovers one with a pale, blurred figure attacking the victim. The city’s spiritualist community believes the church is haunted and the figure is a ghost. But Sarah is a skeptic, and she and her friends soon learn that the victim had plenty of enemies in the human world–including a scientist who studies supernatural phenomena, his psychic daughter, and an heiress on a campaign to debunk spiritualism and expose fraudulent mediums.
In the tunnels beneath a demolished jail, a ghost-hunting expedition ends with a new murder, and new suspects. While Sarah searches for the truth about both crimes, she travels a dark, twisted path into her own family’s sordid history. Her long lost father is the prime suspect in a cold-case murder, and her reunion with him proves that even the most determined skeptic can be haunted by ghosts from the past.
When everything is crumbling around her, which course will she follows …
As it is my first read in this series, I feared to be a bit lost, but the author offers many insights to catch up with the heroine and her team of friends.
Yet while I believed the wedding of the main character was a good time to enter this series, it appears from early reviewers and my own feelings, it was not.
Sure the main plot stands alone, but the characters’ arc is not at is best, with the heroine’s team disbanding, her love relationship at stake. All their lives are spiraling down, so not the best moment to get to know them.
Sarah is running after more than two rabbits at once. Yet there is no confusion about the many threads linking everything together but it dilutes the main inquiry and put Sarah at-odds, looking after one murder then two, seeking answered about her father, worried for one friend then frightened for the other, doubting her own character and finally questioning her marriage.
Yet I liked the vivid and bleak world the author brought to me with the twirl of her pen, Sarah is far from perfect, she makes mistakes after mistakes but she is getting desperate as the claws of evil are closing on her. What I really did not like was Sarah always making a parallel with her mother’s character, a devious one she believes she is reproducing. Every new act she plans, she compares with her mother, always thinking the worst about her own deeds. Like she is haunted, instead of acting on her own free will.
Yet after seing the heroes at their lowest, I hope the next installment will bring them up and give them back their aura.
So while I would not recommend to begin with this book, the author demonstrates a great talent at knitting and unknitting her characters’ life. The world she describes is lively and full of colors even if they are rather bleak.
In all, it is a good read and the cliffhanger at the end leaves hope most everything will be righted in the next installment.
4 stars
one detailed lovemaking scene.
I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher Crooked Lane Books, here is my true and unbiased opinion.
https://www.facebook.com/429830134272830/posts/779769109278929/?d=n
Portrait of Peril is a fast and fun murder mystery (can a murder mystery be fun?) with an entertaining cast of characters. Photographer Sarah Bain and her new husband Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett find themselves in the middle of a murder case in the very church where they have just been married. The victim is a spirit photographer, who makes his living with fraudulent pictures of ghosts and spirits of the bereaved’s loved one. But he also gave Sarah help as a novice photographer and she, along with Sergeant Barrett and her half sister Sally, is compelled to find how who killed him and why. The murder brings the spiritualist and the scientific communities nearly into an all out war…spirits are real and so are their portraits! No they aren’t, you are all just frauds, say to warring sides. Was the victim a good guy, or a fraud preying on the vulnerable? Barrett and Bain, along with a gay lord, a streetwise youth, Sarah’s half sister and more race against time to find the culprit. As more bodies show up, Sarah finds her own life might be in danger. Add to that the fact that her father is living underground after years abroad, since being accused of the murder of a young woman. Is he really guilty? What was her mother’s role in the death?
The are lots of twists and turns in this book. It’s a fun romp through Victorian London; not as elegantly written as some, but pure entertainment and a fast enjoyable read.
Portrait of Peril is a Victorian Mystery by Laura Joh Rowland is set in 1890‘s London. Sarah and Barrett are involved in crime cases, mysteries with a touch of the supernatural. The story begins with a wedding and a murder. The victim is a fellow photographer known to Sarah. The mystery deepens when they find he was a photographer of ghosts. Fraud or not they must find his killer. Plenty of danger and excitement for the newlyweds. Exciting and mysterious characters. Unexpected twists with a surprising ending.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars
When crime photographer and news reporter Sarah Bain gets married to
Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett, the ceremony gets interrupted by a murder. The victim is a photographer specializing in taking scam photos of ghosts. Sarah investigates the technology and tricks used to con grieving people.
A Portrait of Peril is book 5 in the Victorian Mystery series by Laura Joh Rowland, published by Crooked Lane Books. The setting is London 1890 and we follow newspaper photographer Sarah Bain, her police husband and her news photography/reporter team as they investigate how some members of the spiritualist community use a combination of new technology and tricks to con grieving people. Sarah and Thomas’ wedding ceremony is interrupted when
a scam photographer is found murdered in the church crypt. Later his publisher is found dead too. A member of Sarah’s team is standing over the body with blood on his hands and he ends up in jail charged with the murder. Besides investigating the two murders, Sarah secretly looks into the murder case relating to her own family.
Main character is crime photographer and reporter Sarah Bain. She is very self sufficient and has a hard time controlling her temper and struggles with the relationship with her late mother. She seems a complex and believable character who is my favorite of this story.
Supporting character is detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett. He seems a bit bland to me, and I struggle to connect with him. But I picked up on his deepest respect/fear for his mother. I wonder what that might mean for his relationship with fiercely independent Sarah.
I enjoyed how this story starts where similar reads have ended- with marriage. I found it strange and surprising that Sarah and Thomas didn’t find it terribly disturbing to have their wedding ceremony interrupted by a murder. They seemed to go on with things like on a normal day.
The plot contained details of previous stories which made it function as a standalone, but I would have preferred to read the series from the beginning to get to know the characters and follow their development through the series. As I jumped in at book 5, I felt I had missed out on this.
My favorite part of the story was descriptions of the living arrangements with Sarah’s group of unlikely friends and co-workers. The least favorite part was descriptions of an autopsy procedure.
Anyone who loves historical crime fiction will enjoy this. As will fans of Laura Joh Rowland. Similar authors to explore might be Anna Lee Huber or Erin Lindsey.
Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this opportunity to share my honest review. All opinions are completely my own.
Conclusion: A Portrait of Peril is the interesting and entertaining story about a wedding ceremony interrupted by the murder of a photographer specializing in ghost photos to con grieving relatives.
This book opens with Sarah and Barrett finally getting married. I thought it started a bit slow and really only picked up speed once I was half way through. It had a good mystery. I enjoyed the story but now I’m ready for the next one.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy