The Devil’s Breath

This review is for the audio book version of The Devil’s Breath, a Thomas Silkstone mystery, by Tessa Harris, read by Simon Vance. This book was perfectly pleasant, not too taxing, quite entertaining, perfect to listen to while walking or sewing, or whatever you prefer to do while listening to audiobooks.

We pick up where we left Thomas and Lydia at the end of the second novel: looking for her son.

As they follow young Richard’s trail, a mysterious notary is one step ahead of them. Who is trying to keep him from his mother? Meanwhile, at Borton Hall, a noxious fog is making workers and residents sick. The superstitious locals are further spooked when people begin turning up murdered.

Thomas cannot let the sick suffer, and using his medical expertise concocts mixtures to alleviate their symptoms, and then investigates the fog to determine how it is making people so ill. Of course he can’t let a murderer go unpunished either, so he teases out clues to his identity, but can he unmask a killer before being charged with the crime himself?

The fog is based on actual events that occurred in England in 1783, following a series of volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

This installment was better than the second, and leaves me hopeful for the rest of the series. I think the lack of real historical figures helps, her characters are better written from scratch, and this plot seemed less crowded. The horrible lawyer set on keeping Thomas and Lydia apart still seems weird because his motives are so unclear. Does he just hate his birth? Is he upset about the Revolutionary War? I don’t know, but I hope it isn’t the focus of the next story.