jmc_bks

As I promised yesterday -- a review of sorts, at last!

Title: Silent in the Grave

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Copyright information: 2007 by Mira

Why this book? I picked it up at the Hudson News in Terminal E at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. The book selection was not impressive. I chose this one by a process of elimination: not Koontz, not King, not Grisham, not Feehan, not Evanovich...

Did I like the cover? The hardback and paperback have slightly different covers. I prefer the paperback version, because the hardback version seems a little too busy to me, although it is still a nice cover. I thought the colors and content matched the story, suiting the setting and the protagonist.

Hardback version

Paperback version

Description:

"Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave."

These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests.

Prepared to accept that Edward's death was due to a longstanding physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.

Determined to bring her husband's murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward's demise. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival.

Excerpt available here.

What did I think? This is an excellent debut novel IMO. I loved the first person narration of Lady Julia, which is atypical (I think) in mystery novels, especially historical mysteries. I could be wrong about that, though, since I'm not that well-read in the mystery genre.

I like Lady Julia a great deal. Growing up in an unusual family, she always thought that she average, and she wanted a quiet, normal life; now she is realizing that while perhaps the flamboyance of some of her siblings is not for her, there is still room for adventure in her life. She has passed most of her adult life being correct, thinking herself satisfied with her lot, only to discover -- eh, not so much. She begins the investigation into her husband's death out of obligation, only to learn that she didn't know her husband or herself as well as she thought.

I appreciate that the social conventions of the time are not discarded. Class distinctions were alive and well during the Victorian age, despite all of the social changes occuring. As the daughter of an earl, Lady Julia has certain attitudes about the people who surround her that are ingrained; some of them are not nice or politically correct, but they are accurate for the time. There are several scenes that illustrate the London of that day very well; I especially appreciated Lady Julia's perspective of a solitary walk -- she walks alone (shocking) and observes things that never caught her attention before, everyday, ordinary things that are seldom mentioned in historical novels but which make the setting come alive for me.

The mystery itself -- eh, I have a hard time judging that. It was not suspenseful in the sense that there is nothing really riding on the discovery other than justice; no one else is threatened, there is nothing at risk. In retrospect, there were all kinds of hints about the killer, but (like Lady Julia) I hadn't put them together. But they all fit together in the end.

Anything I didn't like? Well, I have vague misgivings about beginning yet another historical mystery series (like the Nell Sweeney series and the Gas Light mysteries of Victoria Thompson) with potential romance that includes class issues. But I'm still looking forward to the follow up, Silent in the Sanctuary, due out on January 1, 2008.

Anything else I want to share? The hardback and paperback are both available. An audio version is available in a download from Amazon or Mira, and an ebook is available from eBookwise but not Mira (which is odd, since I thought eHarlequin was working to make all their releases e-available).