On the surface, Claire Clairmont is an intriguing figure because of the historic figures that she knew. While traveling with her stepsister Mary Godwin, the two cross paths with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. In 1816, Clairmont enters into a scandalous love affair with Lord Byron, leading to an illegitimate child named Allegra. Despite Byron repeatedly rejecting Clairmont, she gives Allegra to Byron, believing he can provide a better life for her. Byron sends Allegra to a convent/boarding school where she dies of typhus at age 5.

A Shadowed Fate picks up almost six decades later. We find her living in "genteel poverty" in Florence, Italy, with her niece and great-niece. A visit from an old friend and death of another friend unravels a mystery that upends everything Clairmont understood about her daughter.

Marty Ambrose is quite adept at believable and convincing conversations that seem authentic to the gentility of the late 1800s. The pacing of the story is pleasant, and the settings are absolutely beautiful. For any reader that hasn't visited or studied the referenced locations, do yourself the favor of looking those places up. They are truly worth it.

So, this is a well-written book that will entertain. The only problem I have with this book is the central character/subject matter. Despite Ambrose crafting a great "slice of life" portrayal of Clairmont and her circle, I don't know that Clairmont is that interesting of a person. Outside of three years as a governess in Russia, it doesn't seem like she even had a job for the majority of her life. It's a harsh comparison, but she seems like the 19th-century equivalent of Paris Hilton or one of the Kardashians. Historically, she's famous for being around famous people, not because of her own accomplishments.

In the acknowledgements, Ambrose refers to Claire Clairmont as "the missing voice of the Byron/Shelley circle." Perhaps it's not just her voice that's "missing" but also a purpose. The whole time I'm reading this, I keep wondering what Claire Clairmont did during her lifetime.

Could it be that Clairmont's lack of accomplishment is the raison d'etre for this series? Ambrose is trying to fill in the gaps of Clairmont's story, proposing purpose and validity to her life choices by wrapping it in an intriguing mystery and setting it in the beautiful Italian landscape. While Ambrose excels at setting, pacing and dialogue, it's very difficult to get hooked into the primary character.

A Shadowed Fate is the second in the series of The Claire Clairmont mysteries, per the interior of the book; however, the cover says A Lord Byron mystery. While this reviewer has not read the first novel, Claire's Last Secret, this second book doesn't fill in the substance-related (substantial?) blanks of Clairmont's life. We find her constantly reliving the past, merely existing in her present and has not emotionally moved beyond Lord Byron.

Given the cover/interior discrepancy over whose mystery we're reading about, it seems as if after two centuries, the only validity that Claire Clairmont can get is from her association with Lord Byron. Perhaps the next book in this series will give Clairmont more development and substance for why she's an interesting historical character.