Book Review: Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber

Treacherous Is the Night
Author: Anna Lee Huber
Series: A Verity Kent Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: Kensington (September 25, 2018)

Description: In 1919 England, in the shadow of The Great War, many look to the spirit world for answers. But it will take an all too earthbound intrigue to draw in the discerning heroine of Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery 

It’s not that Verity Kent doesn’t sympathize with those eager to make contact with lost loved ones. After all, she once believed herself a war widow. But now that she’s discovered Sidney is very much alive, Verity is having enough trouble connecting with her estranged husband, never mind the dead. Still, at a friend’s behest, Verity attends a séance, where she encounters the man who still looms between her and Sidney—and a medium who channels a woman Verity once worked with in the Secret Service. Refusing to believe her former fellow spy is dead, Verity is determined to uncover the source of the spiritualist’s top secret revelation.

Then the medium is murdered—and Verity’s investigation is suddenly thwarted. Even Secret Service agents she once trusted turn their backs on her. Undaunted, Verity heads to war-torn Belgium, with Sidney by her side. But as they draw ever closer to the danger, Verity wonders if she’s about to learn the true meaning of till death do us part . . .

My Thoughts: The second Verity Kent mystery begins with Verity being convinced to attend a seance with one of her best friends. Verity understands why so many people are interested in trying to contact lost loved ones in the aftermath of World War I but doesn't believe in them herself. She finds she has enough to do trying to reconnect with the husband she had believed dead in battle upon his reappearance in her life.

When the medium has a message for Verity from a colleague she worked with in Belgium, Verity is concerned that the medium seems to have information that should be classified. She has been let go from her work as a spy in the Secret Service but she still feels it necessary to bring this to her former superior's attention where it is dismissed. She decides to investigate on her own which puts her in conflict with her husband who wants to go to their country home to try to work on their marriage.

Her secrets and his are making it hard for the two of them to rebuild their relationship. Sydney does travel with her to Belgium where Verity needs to confront some of her secret past in the form of a man she worked with and had a brief affair with while she believed her husband was dead. Also, she encounters another man who helped her solve her first case and who could have been a potential suitor if it had not been for Sydney's reappearance.

This was a well-plotted mystery set in the chaotic aftermath of World War I. I enjoyed following the clues along with Verity as she uncovers and foils a mad plot. I liked the way she and Sydney are trying to save a marriage despite how different the two are since they married five years earlier.

Favorite Quote:

Was it any wonder we scrambled to find respite and pleasure wherever we could? That we'd chosen to drown ourselves in gin and dance a frenzied tarantella to blot out the pain of the present. Just for a moment to forget our black, yawning future.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.