PORTRAIT OF PERIL (Victorian Mystery #5) by Laura Joh Rowland will be published on January 12th, 2021 by Crooked Lane Books.
Crime scene photographer Sarah Bain is back in the fifth installment of the Victorian Mystery series. Mere minutes after marrying Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett, Sarah’s wedding is interrupted when a dead body is discovered in the church’s crypt. Skipping the wedding celebration, Sarah and Barrett embark on a murder investigation along with Sarah’s friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly. The murder victim is a former acquaintance of Sarah’s, and she is dismayed to learn that he has been using his photography skills to take advantage of people through “spirit photography” where he superimposes pictures of their departed loved ones to make them appear as ghosts. London’s spiritualist community believes that a ghost is the murderer, but Sarah and crew find that there are plenty of suspects among the living. Following the murder of another member of the spiritualist community, Mick is arrested for both murders. With Mick in jail and Hugh missing, it is up to Sarah and Barrett to find the killer(s) and save their friends.
I am a big fan of the Victorian Mystery series. Sarah Bain is a great central character. She does not fit the mold of a traditional/stereotypical Victorian era lady. She is edgy. She is independent. She has her faults—and those faults frequently get her into trouble. PORTRAIT OF PERIL is a great addition to the series. I especially enjoyed the focus on spiritualism and the various beliefs that people had towards it in the late 1800s. The mystery was very captivating—especially after the second murder muddies the water. Are the two murders connected? Maybe they are connected, maybe they are not. There are also plenty of suspects that will keep the reader guessing until the end. The secondary storylines involving Sarah’s new life as a married woman, Hugh’s disappearance, and Sarah’s quest to clear her father’s name from an old murder keep the storyline moving. I am intrigued to see what happens next, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.