The Deathly Portent

Lady Fan Mystery Series, Book 2

By: Elizabeth Bailey

Narrated by: Esther Wane

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

When a young woman predicts a murder, she finds herself the center of a witch hunt....

1790, England: When Lord Francis and Lady Ottilia Fanshawe's coach breaks down, they find themselves stranded in the village of Witherley.

But Ottilia, the intrepid "Lady Fan," finds her curiosity piqued when she hears of a local murder.

A young woman predicted the gruesome death of the village blacksmith. And he was killed exactly as described....

Is the young woman predicting the future? Are the villagers right to call her a witch?

Or is there an even more sinister explanation?

©2012 Elizabeth Bailey (P)2019 Tantor

Took forever to get through....

The story is ok and the narration good as far as voices and intonation. But the tortured English of the time period (using many words when one would do), the strong accents and poor English of the "locals" make it very difficult to listen to and comprehend, I had to concentrate very hard all the time, and replay sections frequently. The language and accent may be "authentic" but it still detracts from the audio book. I find "words" like t'aint, and d'aint, and naught annoying. Generally I can easily listen to a book in a day or two, but this I'm sure I worked on this one for 7-10 days. And it was work! I will return and will not buy any more from this series.

Liked it.

I liked the book and it's narration. I would gladly recommend it to cozy murder mystery fans.

Great story!

I loved the narrator. She is perfect! The story is wonderful and the characters are great! It’s light hearted and keeps you wanting to know more.

Enjoyed it

I enjoyed the story who found the characters wonderful. My only problem with the narration is that I had to slow down the speed so that I could actually understand what the narrator was saying, as I’m not up on all of the old English.

A little long, but good.

Excellent example of language, manners, and customs. The plot was unusual. Narrator did a good job with the different characters and accents. This is the second book in the series I have read. Very enjoyable.

Bravo!

Intelligently written, clever plot and engaging characters. I've read both books in this series and I hope for the next very soon.

Too many characters for audio

This book would be better read than listened. Interesting story but hard to follow in audio. Should have been edited down a good bit.

Disappointing 2nd in series

For as entertaining and enjoyable as the first book was, this was the opposite. The narration was over the top theatrical. Same narrator as before but it seemed an attempt was made for each character to be MORE than what they were with moans and sighs and far more angst than I can tolerate. I tried to determine if I disliked the character, Cassie the witch, so strongly because of her never ending pity party or because the narration of her was just downright painful. Sadly, I bought books 2 and 3 together because the first was so good. But, all the things that made the first a good choice for me .... the budding romance between Francis and Tilly, his mother Cecilia, Tilly’s capable and thoughtful investigating as well as the mystery itself were lacking in this next in the series.

Fun Listen

The story is good and the narrator is talented. I'll listen to both the author's other books and the narrator's other books. It's a relief to find a good story with a good narrator.

In a word: problematic

There are some parts of history that we shouldn't support by having our protagonists participate in them without question or examination. One of the main characters is a missionary who failed to convert the "savages" (yes, they used that language) in Africa. There is so much harmful language that is resurrected in this book. Yes, it is authentic to the time, but the author has no problem questioning the sexist notions of the time, so why not question the historical racism?

The author also needs a good editor. She has the main character say "Just so" on almost every page and she misuses the expression "in a word." When one says "in a word" one is supposed to follow with a one word summary of the situation, not a full sentence.

Other than that, I enjoy her writing and her characters. I would happily help her edit any future novels.