The Barrister and the Letter of Marque. Todd M. Johnson. 2021. 412 pages. [Source: Review copy]
First sentence: Early evening shadows blanketed the study lit only by desk candles and a sputtering fire in the hearth.
William Snopes, our protagonist, is a barrister. He reluctantly--oh-so-relunctantly--takes on a new case involving possible piracy. Captain Harold Tuttle, the defendant, swears he had a letter of marque giving him and his vessel, the Padget, royal permission to seize cargo from French ships. (It's more complicated than that.) But the letter has disappeared. As has his first mate. And it seems that soldiers were waiting for them to dock...and waiting to charge them with piracy. His cousin, Lady Madeleine Jameson, is urging Snopes to take the case....
The Barrister and the Letter of Marque is set in the Regency period. It is historical mystery with a bit of romance.
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I found this one super disappointing. The main reason I personally had trouble with this one was suspending disbelief. Johnson used real life historical figures as his villains. I suppose I could forgive him using Beau Brummell. But his use of Princess Charlotte was just all kinds of wrong. I think it was character assassination. What did she ever do to you, Todd Johnson???? But Princess Charlotte died in November 1817. And our story opens in February 1818. So we're to believe a corpse is actively committing crimes???? Now, there was another Princess Charlotte living at this time, a daughter of George III and not George IV. But William Snopes has a private audience with George IV (the Regent) and refers to Princess Charlotte as his DAUGHTER. I just don't understand WHY Johnson had to use real historical figures--and a member of the royal family--AS VILLAINS in the first place???????
The suspense was also off. William Snopes and his colleagues were literally the last to know what was going on. This led to this reader (aka ME) yelling at him throughout the book.
The romance was weak. Since the suspense AND romance were both equally weak and the historical element was sending off alarms of inaccuracy, there wasn't much left for me to enjoy.
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