Another Victorian murder mystery rife with witty banter, palpable sexual tension, and painfully tender interludes. This is the third book in the Veronica Speedwell Mystery series by Deanna Raybourn. If you have read the other two books, you need no encouragement. If you haven’t, read them NOW. They are completely addicting. If you need further encouragement, this is the FIRST sentence of A Treacherous Curse: “I assure you, I am perfectly capable of identifying a phallus when I see one,” Stoker informed me, clipping the words sharply. “And that […]
Mystery! Murder! But, tea is ALWAYS served.
Raybourn’s “Lady Julia Gray” novels are fun little mysteries with quirky characters who find themselves in situations that are often fairly dark. The juxtaposition of entitled Victorian British gentry and crimes of depravity creates a nice balance of grit and wit. The books center on Lady Jane Grey, her eccentric family, the half gypsy but fully rogue, detective Nicholas Brisbane, and various quirky and potentially murderous characters. In “Silent on the Moor”, Lady Jane Grey, her sister, Portia, and their brother, Valerius, serving as reluctant chaperone, […]
Keep the Window Open, Wendy.
I’ll be writing many reviews of this fine lady’s work. Her Veronica Speedwell books (new one this month, superfans!!!) were my gateway and I devoured the first two of the Lady Julia Grey books (3rd one ready to go in the bedside library pile). After doing some Goodreads snooping, I discovered she had several books set in the 1920’s so I scooped up and loooooved “Spears of Grass” (So atmospheric. Wonderful saucy heroine and roguish bush pilot word sparring in the wilds of Africa. But […]
Festive celebrations with the March family
After a year of marriage – and numerous adventures – Lady Julia and Brisbane hope for a quiet, intimate Christmas together – until they find themselves at her father’s ancestral estate, Bellmont Abbey, with her eccentric family and a menagerie of animals. Silent Night starts where Dark Enquiry left off, with Julia and Brisbane planning a trip to Italy. This plan is scuttled, however, when they receive a letter from her father who reminds them that it’s the year to perform the Twelfth Night play […]