Portrait of Peril perplexed me.

Let me preface this by saying that I am an avid fan of Laura Joh Rowland and have definitely enjoyed the preceding books in this Victorian Mystery series. Something was off-kilter for me in this one. It seemed like someone pulled a lever and we were bombarded with incoming missiles from all directions in the wind-up of this storyline. Overkill (Pun intended)

It's October of 1890 in London in the aftermath of ol' Jack the Ripper. Sarah Bain and her band of friends/co-workers run a crime photography business and have been employed by the Daily World News. They've been involved in quite the brutal crimes of the past.

But today Sarah is finally marrying Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett in a small ceremony in St. Peter's Church. As the ceremony ends, a woman dashes into the church screaming that there is a dead body in the church tunnel. Sarah and Thomas leave their guests awe-struck and run to the crime scene. The body belongs to Charles Firth a neighboring photographer. It will soon be revealed that Firth was engaged in spirit photography after they search his shop. But who would have wanted him dead?

Rowland introduces interesting historical facts from the time period in which the Victorians were seeking ways to speak with their dead family members. Automatic writing was thought to be instigated by the spirits making contact. But there were large groups that opposed such thinking as nonsense. The novel takes on an eerie flavor and we readers are locked in.

As Portrait of Peril is winding down, Rowland seems to slip in too many conflicting incidents to shore up why the murderer is the murderer. Way out in left field. In addition, the backstory of Sarah's missing father is growing a beard in itself. As readers, we grow weary of it. I hope that the next offering will regroup and stick with the winning formula of the original books and bring back a rejuvenated Lord Hugh and Mick. Sometimes too much is just too much.

I received a copy of Portrait of Peril through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Crooked Lane and to Laura Joh Rowland for the opportunity.

Wow! What a great addition to the series! I love how gets the feel of the dark side of Victorian London just right. Her mysteries are always highly entertaining and this book was no different! I love our main character! She is a great depiction of a strong female lead and a great female detective in a time when men were expected to take the lead.

Portrait of Peril is a tour de force exposition of Victorian London's buildings and neighborhoods. Sarah Bain is a newlywed news photographer trying to discover a murderer. Readers who like their fiction grounded in fact, will find Laura Rowland's settings deeply rewarding. Rowland also presents the lures of spiritualism at the turn of the last century with enough empathy to help modern skeptics appreciate why intelligent people of the time believed that the dead walked the streets and possibly murdered the living.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Portrait of Peril is the fifth in the Victorian Mystery series by Laura Joh Rowland.
London, 1890. In this installment, photographer Sarah Bain is about to marry her fiance, Detective Sergeant Barrett, when a strange murder interrupts the ceremony. Word spreads that the victim, a fellow photographer, was killed by a spirit. Sarah, Barrett, and their friends are soon caught up in a ghostly mystery and also fighting corruption within the police ranks.

I really liked the character of Sarah--she was fierce, independent, and intelligent. I also liked the added intrigue of Sarah's long lost father and the cold case involving him. I will definitely read other books in this series.

Set in 1890's London, team Sarah is at it again. This time they're investigating the murder of a spirit photographer.
Surrounded by fog, gaslight, dirt and darkness, this is historical fiction as I like it. Portrait of Peril is a highly entertaining Victorian mystery with a twist. Another great installment in an excellent series.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.

this was really good mystery, I enjoyed trying to figure out what was happening. I enjoyed that this was the fifth book and it still feels as strong as the beginning.

I really enjoyed this novel! It's got twists, it's got drama, it's got character development (which is hard to do in a series!).

I appreciate the time Rowland took to explore how Sarah's personal and professional lives effect each other. The mystery is as much fun as in previous books, this time exploring the fascinating world of spirit photographs.

I would definitely pick up any and all of the books in the series. My one complaint would be that I wish it had spent some time to tying up the stories of the suspects. In lieu of that, it ends on an absolute cliffhanger that makes me eager to read the next novel.

The fifth book in this series moves the storyline along but I thought it was not as strong as the previous books. But good character development.

this is an historical fiction book, and is the fifth book of a series of victorian mysteries and I didn't read them so, it was hard to understand it sometimes, but despite that, this book is captivating.

I'd hoped that this series had improved since I read from it last, but no: the protagonist continues to be a shallow and often rather dim and conservative person, despite her continual protesting to the contrary. A main character goes missing, but you hardly notice, because his presence is never terribly interesting--he's window-dressing made to make the books seem inclusive and their characters open-minded. People talk in exclamations and make dramatic statements, then never follow up, and in the end, I couldn't care much about who did what when and to whom.

In Portrait of Peril, Sarah Bain and her housemates Lord Hugh and Mick O'Reilly have returned to working for the Daily World, the newspaper owned and published by Sir Gerald. Sally Albert, Sarah's half sister, is now a reporter at the Daily World as well.
But Portrait of Peril opens on the wedding of Sergeant Thomas Barrett and Sarah Bain. Just as the ceremony ends, the celebration is interrupted by calls of murder. As Barrett and his police colleagues rush to the scene, Sarah, Hugh, Mick and Sally rush over as journalists. Just as Sarah's job and fearlessness caused friction between her and Thomas Barrett, her job leads to conflict with her in-laws as well.

Sarah recognizes the victim as Charles Finch, the kindly photographer and photo shop owner, who gave her a deep discount on her first set of equipment. Sarah is determined to help find his killer. Their investigation leads towards a ghostly presence and to the victim's involvement in selling spiritualist photographs and the like.

The police investigation and Sarah's investigation lead to seances and meetings with spiritualists and their critics. As the investigations progress, the personal lives of Sarah and her friends deteriorates further. While Sarah and her sister have finally found their father, Benjamin Bain remains a fugitive from the law and their meetings must be clandestine help Benjamin Bain avoid arrest. Benjamin Bain remains the chief suspect in the murder investigation.

Sir Gerald's son Tristan has chosen to leave England for Switzerland and Lord Hugh is devastated. He takes to spending days and nights drinking and walking London. Sarah and Barrett have grown closer, preparing for a life together despite the opposition from Barrett's mother.

Hugh is often missing and Sally Albert is angered at Sarah's distrust of their father. Sarah learns that the murder may have been committed by her mother not her father. As Sarah investigates, she begins to question her own instincts -- as the daughter of a murder, is she inclined towards violent behavior herself?

In Portrait of Peril, I enjoyed learning more about Sarah Bain and Thomas Barrett. Laura Joh Rowland gives us characters that we can care about just as much as she weaves a mystery for the amateur sleuths to solve.

#PortraitofPeril #Netgalley #LauraJohRowland #VictorianMysteries

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

3.8 Stars
The leading lady, Sarah Bain, a crime scene photographer for Daily World, is getting married to Detective Sergeant Thomas Barrett, her beloved. Right after the wedding, the dead body of a ‘spirit’ photographer Charles Firth is found in the crypt. Who committed the crime? Will Sarah and Barrett uncover the mystery? This forms the main plot of the story.
Being a series, we also see a strong subplot of Sarah and Sally’s (half-sister) father Benjamin Bain and the crime he is supposed to have committed, the murder of a young girl Ellen. Sarah and Sally are determined to prove his innocence even if it means they’ll have to wake up the dead ghosts of the past.
Of course, we see only the main plot coming to a conclusion while the subplot moves ahead just enough to keep us interested and eager for the next book.
This is the fifth book in the series and my first. Did it affect my reading? No. The references to the previous cases don't bother much. The main plot doesn’t depend on those. We have recurring characters, the homosexual friend Lord Hugh, his faithful valet, and Mick, the 15-year-old orphaned photographer, all of whom are Sarah’s friends and support system.
We also have Inspector Reid, the typical villain within the police department who doesn’t like Sarah and Barrett. He waltzes in and out of the story whenever Sarah needs to add another problem to her overflowing list.
The main plot has a lot of characters, from spiritualists to professors to models to an heiress, who is determined to expose mediums and fake ghosts. The suspect list grows, and we go from one clue to another, one piece of information to another.
Sarah talks, thinks, and rambles (at times) in the present tense (yes, first-person, present-tense narration) about the murder, her mother, her past, and how her life was hard. While I needed to know the details as a new reader, I did find it becoming repetitive towards the end. I’m not sure how the readers of the series would take it, considering they’d have been reading about it in the previous four books.
But there’s quite a bit of action in the cold and foggy London streets and houses. It was refreshing to read a story with characters who do not belong to the elite London society. This is definitely more real and grounded.
There are predictable scenes between Barrett’s mother, Sarah, and Barrett. Our leading lady is an independent woman with fears and insecurities. There was drama, but nothing over the top. That’s was a plus.
I did have an inkling about who the killer(s) would be, so the revelation wasn’t much of a surprise. But I am glad that the writer did not throw in an unexpected twist to give the story an extra punch. It’s good to see the ideas and hints connect well and come out as a proper piece.
Overall, this is an engaging read and picks up pace after the first 70 pages or so. I noticed that my reading speed increased in parallel. If you like Victorian mysteries that are set in the middle class and lower-middle-class sections of London and a heroine with spunk, you’ll enjoy this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC copy.

#PortraitofPeril #NetGalley

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.

In this fifth book in the late Victorian era, crime photographer Sarah Bain has just married Thomas Barrett, DS at the Met police. Literally just after they say their vows, a body is found at the church. The victim, Charles Firth, sold Sarah her first camera do she feels obligated to look into his murder. Sarah discovers that the murder victim has been taking spirit photography and when a second member of London’s spiritualist society is murdered, it appears the two are connected. Hugh and Mick are back to help Sarah investigate in this one, and when Mick gets arrested for the murders, Sarah finds it even more important to solve the cases.

I’ve liked this series from the beginning, mostly because I like Sarah’s character; she’s an independent woman who often acts on instinct, even if it gets her into trouble more often than not. I like her friendships with Mick and Hugh (and I really hope all the next book starts with a Hugh in a better place than we left him in this one!). I liked seeing Sarah and Barrett settle into marriage and the difficulties Sarah had in particular feeling like she’s lost some of her independence.

The continued clash between Sarah and Inspector Reid rears its ugly head in this and while Sarah got sone answers regarding the murder that her father was accused of years ago, the epilogue makes is seem like that’s the focus of the next book and I’m looking forward to it!

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

October 1890. Just as Sarah Bain has married DS Thomas Barrett, a body is discovered. It is identified as Charles Firth, photographer, who seemingly died during the night in a locked church. While Sarah and her two friends Mick O'Reilly and Hugh Staunton investigate Firth's death, Sarah and her half-sister Sally investigate the 24 year old murder of Ellen Casey, as their father is the prime suspect.
For me there was not enough mystery and too much emphasis on the past.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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.

In this fifth installment of the 'A Victorian Mystery' series, photographer Sarah (Bain) Barrett is dealing not only with a new case that ends up hitting close to home, but adjusting to life as a newlywed as well. Laura Joh Rowland has written a worthy successor with this book, with her trademark excellent plotting and strong characters. I took points off for the violence and sex scenes (not my thing) but overall a good read!
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this book.