The Deathly Portent (A Lady Fan Mystery #2)

The Deathly Portent is the second Lady Fan Mystery by Elizabeth Bailey. Released 23rd Aug 2018 by Sapere books, it's 381 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

I really like historical fiction.  I love period based mysteries.  I enjoyed the first book in this series and fully expected to enjoy this one as well.  There is a fair bit to enjoy.  The author has done a lot of research and it shows.  Her writing is competent and the plot flows mostly without lagging too terribly much.

I found myself struggling to connect with the main characters. They're by turns rude, overbearing, condescending and not terribly bright. (I can stick all of the above, but blundering and clueless are deadly).  I finished the book last weekend, and I'm still annoyed over 'whodunnit'.  It might well be true to period, but I read fiction for escape and excusing blatant racism and sexism because 'it's period' should remain firmly in the past.  I get enough depressing headlines from the newspaper feed.

I struggled to finish this book because of the language.  It's not an easy exercise, making archaic and obsolescent speech patterns palatable for modern readers. The author gave it a good try, but in my case at least, I winced a lot. Every single b'aint was a speed bump. Every use of 'creature' referring to women (43! I counted) was a break in my suspension of disbelief and every 'head toss' and 'fluttering' body part made me want to bang my head on my desk.

This is a murder mystery written, for all intents and purposes, like a period romance. There is romance and implied physical relations (off scene, nothing graphic).  There is implied cursing but nothing graphic or specific. There isn't any direct content to offend or shock modern audiences, unless one counts the sexism and anti 'everyone who isn't white and male' sentiment.

There are now 3 books in the series with a 4th expected 3rd Jan, 2019.  

Worth noting for Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book (and the others in the series) are included in the KU subscription.

Three stars for me. The writing is competent and the plot framework was within bounds. I will say that there are a lot of diehard fans of this author and the series as a whole, so I seem to be in the minority.  Probably worth a try for period romance fans.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.