DEATHLY PORTENT starts with a young woman and her maid fleeing from boys throwing stones at them in a storm. The village believes one of the women to be a witch. To save themselves from being stoned further, the women ask the recently arrived Reverend Aiden Kinnerton to give them sanctuary. The story then switches to newlyweds Ottilia and Lord Francis who have found themselves unable to continue their journey because their carriage has broken down. Ryde, their groom, has left to find a blacksmith and ends up in the village where the witch scandal is taking place. When Ryde returns to tell his master that the blacksmith has been found dead and a witch is claimed to be the perpetrator it is to the complete delight of Ottilia. With no apparent other option since the closest blacksmith for miles is dead, Ottilia begins to convince her husband that if they had to wait anyways they might as well do it in the village of Witherley. While outwardly Lord Francis may wear the pants, it is clear Ottilia pulls the strings of the relationship, and this is how the two story lines become intertwined in the village of Witherley.

Lord Francis and Ottilia, team up as sleuths to clear the name of Cassie, the young woman accused of murdering the village blacksmith, Duggleby, and being a witch. The plot thickens when it is found the reason the village believes Cassie to have committed the murder is because she proclaimed to have a vision of how Duggleby would die. While this seems to be a roadblock it is not the biggest of them all. The whole village seems to have a reason to have killed Duggleby, so Ottilia has many suspects to choose from. Elizabeth Bailey clearly put some time into creating an intricate weave of backstories for each character. Your first glimpse of some characters lead you to believe one way about them, but as with most small villages it is not what is on the surface that counts.

The DEATHLY PORTENT is filled with lovely teatime gossip about the mystery of who killed the village blacksmith. You cannot help but be swept away by all the intrigue. Ottilia presents herself as but an interested female at first, but it is clear that she could rival any modern day detective. Once you are on the trail of the murderer the DEATHLY PORTENT is hard to put down. It will leave you guessing right up to the end. It is a great follow up novel to THE GILDED SHROUD which I highly recommend getting to learn about the meeting of Lord Francis and Ottilia. I can't wait for the next adventure.

Book Summary

Her charm and cajolery may fool the unwary.
Unscrupulous and cunning, as dauntless as she is resolute, the incomparable "Lady Fan" is as ruthless as the killer she is tracking in...

A violent murder has left the village of Witherley aghast. The locals are convinced that a witch doing the devil's work is to blame-a young woman believed to have second sight. The new vicar, Aidan, taking up the cudgels in her defense, fears the witch hunt is escalating out of his control. But help is at hand.

The bright and perceptive Ottilia, once a lady's companion and now bride to Lord Francis Fanshawe, is drawn to Witherley by an insatiable curiosity. Ottilia rapidly uncovers a raft of suspects with grudges against the dead man, one of whom is determined to incriminate the "witch." And as foul play runs rampant, Ottilia must wade through the growing hysteria to unravel the tangle and point a finger at the one true menace...

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