lizarodz
Written on Apr 2, 2019
THE FIRST LADY DARBY MYSTERY
“A riveting debut…an original premise, an enigmatic heroine, and a compelling Highland setting…a book you won’t want to put down.”—New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn
Scotland, 1830. Following the death of her husband, Lady Darby has taken refuge at her sister’s estate, finding solace in her passion for painting. But when her hosts throw a house party for the cream of London society, Kiera is unable to hide from the ire of those who believe her to be as unnatural as her husband, an anatomist who used her artistic talents to suit his own macabre purposes.
Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.
When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…
- ISBN10 1101612320
- ISBN13 9781101612323
- Publish Date 1 November 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Berkley Books
- Format eBook
- Pages 368
- Language English
Reviews
Amber (The Literary Phoenix)
Written on Jun 2, 2018
I think that this book series would make a good television show. Everyone loves period murder mysteries, right?
This one was pretty good. I don't read a lot of Victorian-era historical books, and I limit my mysteries because most of the time I guess the killer in the first 30% and then I'm bored for the rest of the book. That was not the case with this one - at 50% I had developed a (wrong) conspiracy theory about the killer, and at 75% I knew who it was, but they behaved differently. There's a lot of thrown-in details to point you in the wrong direction, which is fun/frustrating. I love who-done-its. I'm so, so bad at them when they're done properly like this.
I feel like books like this are why book clubs exist. The members read to page 200 and all argue about who the killer is and their theories about it and it's so much more fun to speculate about murderers than romantic pairings (I think).
Really solid read, not too much cheesy romance. There's romance, but it's subtle and well done - a rare find these days, where romance so often overrides the other genres. I liked it and I'm in for book 2.