Another good entry in the series. Blake wild and mysterious, Avery , finding it increasingly hard to continue in his solid , somewhat upper class persona. Dickensian, with lots of awful things, but most only hinted at. Historical details on chartists and on London in general very good, just a little liberty taken here and there to advance the plot. Historical characters like Mathew add color ( )

I preferred the India setting in the first book to the wet and gray London we have in this book. India is exotic but London is rather dull. The investigation into the whodunnit seemed less interesting because the India setting gave me more options for villains and red herrings. Moving the characters out of India was a mistake in my mind.

The setting change also affected Blake and Avery's relationship and their ability to resolve clues. While they were in India, Avery needed Blake’s fluency in multiple languages and his extensive knowledge of the cultures. In London, Blake seems to have fewer investigative tools.

This installment of the series was a miss for me and I will not be reading the series any further. ( )

Really more a history book than a mystery. The portrait of poverty in London and the emerging struggles for emancipation during the 1800’s are very well done. ( )

This is the second part of [a:M.J. Carter|303935|M.J. Carter|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1385642211p2/303935.jpg]'s series of books on Blake and Avery, the two Sherlock Holmes and John Watson-read-alikes. Still, this series is exciting, almost like what the first "Mummy" film was to the Indiana Jones franchise - proving that a well-made thing can keep a feeling alive.

This is set in England, where the first book was set in India.

‘How is it that you think so much faster in these situations than you do the rest of the time?’ he muttered. ‘The truth is, I’m afraid, Jeremiah, that in these situations I do not think at all.’ He gave a small smile and winced with pain. I tried again to clean the blood from his face. He pushed me away. ‘You are a dreadful sight – not that it seems to deter the ladies.’ He laughed this time and clutched his ribs.

The tone and style is strengthened by the terse sentences, and it all feels very [a:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1289836561p2/2448.jpg] - for the good.

The book is well written, and the action is quite good. The book felt a bit drab about four fifths in, but gained a little momentum towards the end. The first half of the book felt better than the first book entirely. ( )

I must admit that I was disappointed when I started this sequel to The Strangler Vines. One of the things that drew me to the first book of the series was the location - Colonial India. The Infidel Stain opens with Captain William Avery newly returned to Victorian England where he reunites with Jeremiah Blake in London. I've read a ton of period mysteries set in this location and around this same time period. I missed the freshness of a historical fiction mystery set elsewhere. Jem Blake is now a private enquiry agent and he's been tasked to discover the person or persons responsible for a series of ghastly murders. I saw the twist and resolution coming from a mile away. I had hoped that after their experiences together in India, Avery would be a little less whiny and that perhaps Blake would be a little more open with Avery giving him less cause to mope. Alas, that was not to be. I wanted to shake them both on several occasions. Additionally, the audiobook narrator, while still good, seemed to struggle to remember his voices for the two main characters, so their dialog often ran together. Whenever the text called for them to speak in low voices, the narrator whispered and the sound level dropped significantly, making passages impossible to hear while listening in my car. Those few annoyances aside, the book was still well written and engaging. There's a lot of heavy social commentary interwoven in this novel and I felt invested in the characters and the resolution. I will certainly be reading the next in the series, although I haven't decided if I want to purchase the audiobook version. ( )