Black Drop

I’m a bit of a sucker for historical fiction, historical crime fiction particularly. So when I was asked to read and review Black Drop, I jumped at the opportunity. It sounded right up my street: a mystery novel were nothing but irrefutable proof will save the condemned man, in a time where reputation and class were worth more than anything.

The novel started off well and I found I warmed to the main character, Laurence Jago, quite quickly. He hadn’t had the best start in life and really only wanted to do well in his job and marry Anne Bellingham, a lady slightly above his station.

I found myself disappointed by the book as a whole, but I think that was more to do with my expectations rather than it being a bad book. I felt there needed to be more of a reason for Laurence to be concerned for his safety. I was never really convinced anything terrible was going to happen to him. I also found the pace of the book a little slow for my tastes. I much prefer a book to clip along at a decent trot, or if not, it must have the depth and detail to hold my interest throughout.

Black Drop is well written and appears to be well researched as well. I am sure there are many readers who will love this book, sadly I was just not one of them.