Book Review: The Lady Julia Grey Novellas

Midsummer Night 
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 0.5)
Publication: MIRA (January 16, 2017)

Description: Midsummer in England—an auspicious time for a wedding. Brisbane has taken charge of the music. Julia has, perhaps mistakenly, authorized her sisters to choose the dress. And Belmont Abbey is overflowing with guests awaiting the blessed day. What could go wrong?

Combine the close-knit chaos of village life, pagan traditions bursting through staid Victorian conventions, and the congenial madness that tends to swirl around Lady Julia's
family, and you get an unforgettable wedding. But add in a dangerous past nemesis who has
come to wish them not-so-well, and their day to remember just might take a fatal turn…

My Thoughts: This novella tells about Julia and Brisbane's Midsummer wedding. Having turned over the arrangements to her sisters, the plans for the ceremony are rapidly getting out of control. Between Brisbane's deaf and outrageous great-uncle who happens to be a Scottish duke and his gypsy aunt who deeply resents that he has more gypsy powers than she does, Brisbane's side of the family adds a lot to the chaos that is already the March family. Throw in a fire and a jewel thief trying to recover stolen loot and you have a madcap adventure.

Silent Night
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 5.5)
Publication: MIRA (September 14, 2015)

Description: 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.

Nevertheless, Julia looks forward to a lively family gathering—but amongst the celebrations, a mystery stirs. There are missing jewels, new faces at the Abbey, and a prowling ghost that brings back unwelcome memories from a previous holiday—one that turned deadly. Is a new culprit recreating crimes of the past? And will Brisbane let Julia investigate—?

My Thoughts: This novella takes place at Christmas at Bellmont Abbey. Julia has been looking forward to spending time with her new husband in the Rookery, a dower house given to her by her father, but a fallen tree means they are housed in the Abbey. With only half of his children able to attend and a romantic disappointment, the Earl is a picture of gloom. Throw in missing jewels and a return of the ghost from an earlier mystery and Julia and Brisbane have a number of things to investigate.

Twelfth Night
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 5.6)
Publication: MIRA (February 1, 2017)

Description: To mark the passing of another decade, the esteemed—and eccentric—March family have assembled at Bellmont Abbey to perform the Twelfth Night Revels for their sleepy English village. But before Lady Julia and her handsome, sleuthing husband, Nicolas Brisbane, can take to the stage, a ruckus in the stable yard demands their attention. An abandoned infant is found nestled in the steel helm of St. George. What's more, their only lead is the local legend of a haunted cottage and its ghastly inhabitant—who seems to have returned.

Once again, Lady Julia and Nicholas take up the challenge to investigate, and when the source of the mystery is revealed, they'll be faced with an impossible choice—one that will alter the course of their lives…forever.

My Thoughts: The March family is all present at Bellmont Abbey for the traditional Twelfth Night mummers play. Every ten years the family gets together to perform the play written by Shakespeare. This year's performance has the addition of a foundling baby which opens an investigation by Brisbane and Julia to find out who he is. Julia is also dealing with some of her sibling's attitudes toward her new half-gypsy, private inquiry agent husband who is not their kind of people. This was has returning characters from earlier books in the series who bring their problems home with them and with Julia and Belmont winding up with a child when they never expected to have one. 

Bonfire Night
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 5.7)
Publication: MIRA (March 1, 2017)

Description: It’s the autumn of 1890, and almost a year has passed since—much to their surprise—Lady Julia and her detective husband, Nicholas Brisbane, became parents. Just as the couple begins to adapt, a solicitor arrives with a strange bequest. Nicholas, it seems, has inherited a country house—but only if he and his family are in residence from All Hallows’ Eve through Bonfire Night.

Neither Lady Julia nor Nicholas is likely to be put off by local legends of ghosts and witches, and the eerie noises and strange lights that flit from room to room simply intrigue them. Until a new lady’s maid disappears, igniting a caper that will have explosive results…

My Thoughts: This novella takes place on All Hallows' Eve when Brisbane inherits a haunted manor from a man he has never met. Julia, Portia, and Plum accompany him and all of them investigate the many hauntings and happenings. They bring along Portia's daughter Jane the Younger and their child John Nicholas Brisbane. It is all a complex plot orchestrated by Brisbane's very disreputable father which puts both Nicholas and Julia in danger but does finally cement the place of John Nicholas in their lives.

I bought these. The titles link to their Amazon pages.

Book Review: The Dark Inquiry by Deanna Raybourn

The Dark Inquiry
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 5)
Publication: MIRA (September 14, 2015)

Description: Partners now in marriage and in trade, Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane have finally returned from abroad to set up housekeeping in London. But merging their respective collections of gadgets, pets and servants leaves little room for the harried newlyweds themselves, let alone Brisbane's private enquiry business.

Among the more unlikely clients: Julia's very proper brother, Lord Bellmont, who swears Brisbane to secrecy about his case. Not about to be left out of anything concerning her beloved—if eccentric—family, spirited Julia soon picks up the trail of the investigation.

It leads to the exclusive Ghost Club, where the alluring Madame Séraphine holds evening séances…and not a few powerful gentlemen in thrall. From this eerie enclave unfolds a lurid tangle of dark deeds, whose tendrils crush reputations and throttle trust.

Shocked to find their investigation spun into salacious newspaper headlines, bristling at the tension it causes between them, the Brisbanes find they must unite or fall. For Bellmont's sake—and more—they'll face myriad dangers born of dark secrets, the kind men kill to keep….

My Thoughts: Back in London, Julia and Brisbane get involved with spiritualists and spies when they try to recover evidence of her older brother Bellmont's affair with a spiritualist. At first, things seem rather simple. All they have to do is confront the spiritualist and convince her to return Bellmont's letters. Before they can confront her, someone kills her with aconite leaving the letters still missing.

Julia visits the other people who were at the seance she attended and eliminates a couple of them and also meets the intriguing Sir Morgan Fielding who turns out to be an illegitimate cousin of hers. She immediately takes a liking to him which is often a clue in this series that he is up to no good. She soon learns some of his secrets and how they connect to her mysterious husband. We also get a chance to meet more of Brisbane's gypsy relatives when they take shelter in a gypsy camp run by his grandmother.

This book is packed with action and danger for both Julia and Brisbane. Through the course of this story the reader can just see the relationship deepen between Julia and Brisbane as he finally lets loose of some of the secrets in his life now that he is confident that nothing is going to change Julia's love for him.

I love the setting of this story and the touches of humor. Julia's eccentric family and her own eccentricities are often quite funny. I love her growing assortment of pets.

Favorite Quote:

It was not the first itme I had pushed my way into his world, and not the first time I had made him shatteringly angry in doing so. The trouble, I believed, had its roots in our respective pasts. I came from a family too much in each other's pockets. We Marches were forthright, emotional, feckless and impulsive. We also loved to talk. There was not a thought or deed that wen unremarked amongst us. Secrets were short-lived in our family. We made a life's work of interfering in each other's business, and then telling the others about it, and with ten children, there was always much to tell.

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

Book Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

Dark Road to Darjeeling
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Series: Lady Julia Grey Mysteries (Book 4)
Publication: MIRA (September 14, 2015)

Description: After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia's eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband's family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband's death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next?

Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary.

My Thoughts: Julia and Brisbane have been enjoying their extended honeymoon on the continent when her sister Portia and brother Plum catch up with them Egypt bringing with them a mystery. Portia's beloved who married and moved to India with her husband has been widowed, is pregnant, and believes her husband was murdered asks for help.

The four of them take off for India to solve Jane's problem. They find an isolated tea plantation and an assortment of intriguing characters. Jane's aunt-in-law and cousin-in-law each have reasons why they could have wanted her husband, the heir to the plantation dead, and who could want Jane or at least Jane's baby dead too. But they are not the only suspicious characters. Julia's cousins Emma and Lucy have also found themselves in the same valley. Emma, who may or may not have committed a series of murders, is dying and widowed Lucy has a secret suitor. The valley also contains an orchid-growing minister and his free-thinking American wife. They have two children - a daughter on the verge of adulthood and a young son obsessed with his scientific experiments. There is also the widowed doctor who is falling apart from grief and using alcohol and drugs to bury his pain. Last but not least is the White Rajah who is living in an abandoned monastery.

Both Julia and Brisbane investigate these interesting characters to try to find out, first, if Jane's husband was actually murdered, and, second, to protect Jane. The story is told by Julia who is very observant but sometimes draws incorrect conclusions from her observations. The characters are all well-drawn and fascinating people. The setting is lovely. The relationship between Julia and Brisbane is a work in progress as they try to define the boundaries of their relationship and balance her need for adventure and validation with his need to keep her safe and protected.

The story had a bunch of secrets that were gradually exposed leading to a shattering and life-changing conclusion.

Favorite Quote:

"His hermit. He had engaged a hermit. He thought it might be an interesting addition to the garden."

"Has he gone stark staring mad? Who ever heard of a hermit in Sussex?" I demanded,although I was not entirely surprised. Father loved nothing better than tinkering with his country estate, although his devotion to the place was such that he rused to modernise the Abbey with anything approaching suitable plumbing or electricity.

Portia sipped placidly at her soup. "Oh, no. The hermit isn't in Sussex. Father has put him in the garden of March house."

"In London? In the back garden of a townhouse" I pounced on Plum. "Did no one try to talk him out of it? He'll be a laughingstock."

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

Book Review: Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Silent on the Moor
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Series: A Lady Julia Grey Mystery (Book 3)
Publication: MIRA; Original edition (August 17, 2015)

Description: Despite his admonitions to stay away, Lady Julia arrives in Yorkshire to find Brisbane as remote and maddeningly attractive as ever. Cloistered together, they share the moldering house with the proud but impoverished remnants of an ancient family—the sort that keeps their bloodline pure and their secrets close. Lady Allenby and her daughters, dependent upon Brisbane and devastated by their fall in society, seem adrift on the moor winds, powerless to change their fortunes. But poison does not discriminate between classes….

A mystery unfolds from the rotten heart of Grimsgrave, one Lady Julia may have to solve alone, as Brisbane appears inextricably tangled in its heinous twists and turns. But blood will out, and before spring touches the craggy northern landscape, Lady Julia will have uncovered a Gypsy witch, a dark rider and a long-buried legacy of malevolence and evil.

My Thoughts: In this episode of the Lady Jane Grey mysteries Jane has invited herself to Nicholas Brisbane's new home in the isolated depths of Yorkshire. There she finds a spooky old home, mysterious people, and pieces of Nicholas's past.

Nicholas is his mysterious self. He alternately pulls her in and pushes her away. She is just about ready to give up on him when he is poisoned and almost dies. With the help of a local gypsy healer, Nicholas recovers and Jane realizes that she can't leave him despite the obstructions he throws into her path.

This story had a very Gothic feel. It had an old family holding on to an illustrious past but having dwindled to an old woman and her two daughters left penniless by the death of her disgraced Egyptologist son. It had madness and gypsy curses all set in the wilds of the moors in Yorkshire. It has revenge and betrayal.

Jane learns about Nicholas's childhood in this one and his connections to the area and to the family. All in all it was an excellent entry into an intriguing historical mystery series. 

Favorite Quote:

"Remember, lady. If you would know a person, stop your ears to their words, but mark their actions. Think on what I have said, and you will know what to do.

I bought this one on June 18, 2014. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

Silent in the Sanctuary
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Series: A Lady Julia Grey Mystery (Book 2)
Publication: MIRA; Reprint edition (August 17, 2015)

Description: Fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends. Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget—the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane—is among her father's houseguests…and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.

But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel. Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again.

My Thoughts: Lady Julia Grey, fresh from Italy, joins her family at the family home for the Christmas season and has a mystery to solve. She comes with her brothers Plum and Lysander and Lysander's new Italian wife Violante. They also brought along young Count Alessandro Fornacci who has a crush on Julia.

When she arrives she finds quite a gathering. Her sister Portia is there as are poor relations Emma and Lucy Phipps along with Lucy's new fiance Sir Cedric Eastley, a self-made man, and his secretary/nephew Henry Ludlow. Also present is the man Julia has spent months trying to forget. Nicholas Brisbane is there along with his fiance Mrs. Charlotte King.

That evening at dinner, they are joined by the Vicar who is an honorary uncle and his new curate Lucian Snow who is charming and rather feckless. He immediately uses his charm to try to endear himself to the wealthy, single ladies.

This house party is filled with tension. Nicholas and Julia have unresolved issues and Snow's political views regarding gypsies immediately puts Julia's back up. There is also some secret about why Nicholas is wearing a sling. When Snow is found dead in the chapel with Lucy holding a bloody candlestick, the investigation begins. Julia's father orders Nicholas and Julia to investigate together which is not what Nicholas wants.

Add in ghostly wanderings, missing jewels, and attempted poisonings and you have a wild ride of a mystery. I love the detailed picture of life in the upper classes in England in the late 1880s. Julia's father is quite a progressive thinker for his daughters but less so for his sons. He encourages Julia to stretch herself which is something Julia wants to do since she has never felt as alive or as useful as when she was involved in her first investigation and wants the same again.

I am intrigued by Julia's relationship with Nicholas Brisbane. He is continually pushing her away and occasionally drawing her close. Julia is fascinated by the mystery of him. 

Favorite Quote:

And I realized, as I sat watching my efforts at deduction smoulder to ash, I wanted a larger life than the one I led. I wanted adventure and passion and romance, and all the other things I had scorned. More than seven hundred years of wild March blood had told at last, I thought with a smile. I had done a mighty job of suppressing it for the first thirty years of my life, but it simply would not do anymore.

I bought this one in paperback on Feb. 17, 2009 and for my Kindle April 16, 2018. You can buy your copy here.