A Brush with Shadows (Lady Darby Mystery, #6)

by Anna Lee Huber

Sebastian Gage returns home to battle the ghosts of his past and prevent them from destroying his future with Kiera in the latest exciting installment in this national bestselling series.

July 1831. It's been fifteen years since Sebastian Gage has set foot in Langstone Manor. Though he has shared little with his wife, Lady Kiera Darby, about his past, she knows that he planned never to return to the place of so many unhappy childhood memories. But when an urgent letter from his grandfather reaches them in Dublin, Ireland, and begs Gage to visit, Kiera convinces him to go.

All is not well at Langstone Manor. Gage's grandfather, the Viscount Tavistock, is gravely ill, and Gage's cousin Alfred has suddenly vanished. He wandered out into the moors and never returned. The Viscount is convinced someone or something other than the natural hazards of the moors is to blame for Alfred's disappearance. And when Alfred's brother Rory goes missing, Kiera and Gage must concede he may be right. Now, they must face the ghosts of Gage's past, discover the truth behind the local superstitions, and see beyond the tricks being played by their very own eyes to expose what has happened to Gage's family before the moors claim yet another victim...

• ISBN10: 0399587225
• ISBN13: 9780399587221
• Publish Date: 6 March 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 11 July 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: New American Library
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780399587221

Reviews

[lizarodz]

Awesome! Now on the 6th book of the series, I feel like I know these characters much better. It was fascinating and sad to understand Gage's upbringing and how it made him the man he is. Loved this one!

[readingwithwrin]

Thank you to firsttoread for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

“There is a darkness that hovers over that house. A shadow that seems to touch every life that falls within its reach.”

With a big staff, some very private family members, and a possible murdered in their mist this book does not disappoint.

While this is the 6th book in the series and I haven't read any of the other ones. I can still say that it was easy to follow along with what had happened in the past for the most part.

A Brush with Shadow follows Sebastian Gage and Kiera Darby a newly married couple who also solve investigations together. This one happens to be very personal for Sebastian as it is his Cousin that is missing. With some bad blood between family members from fifteen years ago and them than keeping secrets from the couple, it's a bit of a bumpy ride at first. In fact, the first half of the book is slow because of how little information the couple has and them just getting re-acclimated with the house and what's happening in it now.
The second half though is so good, and I wish the first half had been more like it.
Kiera and Sebastian start getting the staff's support. The family stops treating them like an intrusion, and Kiera meets some of the locals who end up providing some much-needed information.

"I think sometimes I become so determined to find the truth that I become blinded to the affect that truth might have on others."

It was also interesting to see some of the local's superstitions about the moors. Between Pixie's and the rumor that a witch lives on the moors, it was an interesting ride. Needless to say like always they turned out to be nothing.

"It was always difficult to tell a person you genuinely liked, whom you wanted to believe, that you didn’t entirely trust them. "

Overall I did like this book for the most part. Keira and Sebastian are not your typical 1800's match. They choose each other, and married for love instead of convenience. Sebastien seems to not only respect Kiera, but also values her opinion on things. Kiera doesn't take anything from anyone, even when it does make people not very happy with her.
The mystery of why the cousin had left and if it was some big family 'curse' was fascinating to me and I could never figure out what was going on or who was causing what to happen.

I'm interested to see what the other mysteries were like now and I can't wait to see what Kiera and Sebastian get up to next.

"I’ve learned sometimes those who care the most also exhibit the gruffest demeanors. They simply don’t know how to express it.”

[MurderByDeath]

I'll put it out there: the recent books don't have the edginess that the first few books had, and this one had Gage's tragic past laid somewhat thickly on the ground, but I still thoroughly enjoy them.  I can imagine once you marry off your protagonist it becomes difficult to defy conventions quite so easily; some tropes become unavoidable.     Still, the characters continue to please, and Huber did fitting justice to the Dartmoor moors; Gage's tragi-angst wasn't the only thing thick on the ground:  thick fog, heavy mist, unrelenting rain, a formidable dark, gloomy manor, and a hint of the supernatural - the moors wouldn't be the moors without them and they were all here in spades.   The mystery was pretty darn good too.  Was a crime committed?  Is the heir playing his usual games?  Why is everybody hiding everything?  In the end, crimes were definitely committed and while the murderer came out of nowhere for me, in spite of the name occurring to me in relation to a tangential plot element, I don't feel like it was a cheat on the part of the author.  I can't say she necessarily played fair in the strictest sense of the word, but I don't feel like she pulled any rabbits out her hat either.   I'm a fan, and I'll eagerly buy her next one.   This book will work for the Kill Your Darlings cards for Victim: Easy Rawlings and Victim: Ariadne Oliver.  Not sure which I'll use it for yet though.