A Mortal Likeness

November 20, 2017
In Rowland’s The Ripper’s Shadow, London photographer Sarah Bain, with the aid of such friends as Lord Hugh Staunton, “solved the Jack the Ripper case via a combination of mishaps, wild ideas, and luck.” In this so-so sequel, Sarah and Hugh, an outcast from his family because of his sexual orientation, have started a detective agency, but their investigative skills are still unimpressive. A job to surveil a husband suspected of infidelity takes them to the Crystal Palace, where Sarah succeeds in photographing him cheating in the dinosaur park. Meanwhile, she inadvertently takes a picture of a man connected to the kidnapping of the toddler son of Sir Gerald Mariner, who left a ransom in the park around the time Sarah and Hugh were there. Sir Gerald hires the duo to search for the kidnapper among the members of his own household. Once again, they fly by the seat of their pants to a solution. Those who don’t mind less-than-credible sleuths will have the most fun. Agent: Pam Ahearn, Pam Ahearn Agency.

November 15, 2017
A photographer and sometime sleuth dances with death when she searches for a missing infant in Victorian England.Following her triumph in discovering the identity of Jack the Ripper (The Ripper's Shadow, 2017, etc.), Sarah Bain and her pal Hugh, an aristocrat exiled from his family because of his homosexuality, are the proud partners in a thriving photography business. But they've found a good deal less success with their "private inquiry service" despite their alliance with Mick, a resourceful street urchin who lives with Sarah and is freely dispatched on special assignments. When her long-lost father, Benjamin, turns up on the fringe of one of her photographs, Sarah is prompted to delve into his past. Learning that he was the prime suspect in a decades-old murder, she feels compelled to discover the truth. Close on the heels of this discovery, a pair of Sarah's recent clients who turn up dead seem to be connected to Robin Mariner, a missing baby believed to have been kidnapped. Sarah's initial efforts at ferreting out her father's history hit firm resistance, but she fares far better with the Mariner family, who mistrust police and hire her and Hugh on the spot. Complicating matters is Sarah's romantic relationship with Barrett, a rising star on London's police force who'd surely disapprove of her sleuthing. The closer she gets to the truth, the more she puts her life, and those of her loved ones, in danger.The plot of Rowland's second Victorian mystery is a bit overstuffed but boasts a winning team of outsider heroes and a colorful first-person narrative.

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