Anna Lee Huber - A Brush with Shadows

Sebastian Gage returns home to battle the ghosts of his past and prevent them from destroying his future with Kiera in the latest exciting installment in this national bestselling series.
July 1831. It's been fifteen years since Sebastian Gage has set foot in Langstone Manor. Though he has shared little with his wife, Lady Kiera Darby, about his past, she knows that he planned never to return to the place of so many unhappy childhood memories. But when an urgent letter from his grandfather reaches them in Dublin, Ireland, and begs Gage to visit, Kiera convinces him to go.
All is not well at Langstone Manor. Gage's grandfather, the Viscount Tavistock, is gravely ill, and Gage's cousin Alfred has suddenly vanished. He wandered out into the moors and never returned. The Viscount is convinced someone or something other than the natural hazards of the moors is to blame for Alfred's disappearance. And when Alfred's brother Rory goes missing, Kiera and Gage must concede he may be right. Now, they must face the ghosts of Gage's past, discover the truth behind the local superstitions, and see beyond the tricks being played by their very own eyes to expose what has happened to Gage's family before the moors claim yet another victim...

Comment: This is the 6th installment in the Lady Darby series by Anna Lee Huber, which I have been reading one book a month, more or less, in the past months.

In this story Kiera and Sebastian are traveling to his family estate, to see Sebastian's grandfather, who is ill. They are also there to investigate what happened to Alfred, Sebastian's cousin who will inherit the estate, who has been missing for a while. While they try to understand the role of everyone involved, Alfred's younger brother Rory, who has been quite helpful, also goes missing. Sebastian doesn't have many fond memories of the estate and his childhood still makes him remember bad things but he is trying to get past that and find out what happened so that he and Kiera can go back home. However, someone is determined in maintaining the "curse" which is often mentioned among the family, as if something prevents the members from straying too far from their supposed role. Will Kiera and Gage discover who wanted to harm Alfred and Rory?

This was another interesting story featuring Kiera and Sebastian, who are now happily married and still investigating whatever cases come their way. As soon as they finish the case in Ireland (from the previous book), they are recalled back to England to learn what they can about the disappearance of Sebastian's cousin. Alfred has been described as a womanizer and not very considerate of others but he is still family and Sebastian's grandfather is ill, he wants to know where Alfred is before something happens to him as well.

Once again, I've found the story to be compelling, easy to follow and to be interested in. The author has created a strong pairing in Kiera and Sebastian and I like seeing them work together, not only as two people who investigate specific cases, but also as a married couple, who is also still learning to trust one another and is trying to compromise and enrich their relationship with respect and mutual appreciation of the other person's skills and knowledge.

The plot was captivating enough and I think it was especially well achieved because under the disguise of "interviewing" this and that person, Kiera and Sebastian can learn interesting things, mostly Kiera whose POV we follow. For me, the success of the series so far is in the little things, the small details that might seem irrelevant to many readers but that allow the big picture to feel more complex and that somehow justify the author's time into putting those elements there. For instance, the easy rapport between Kiera and her maid Bree might seem unimportant or only something to fill in the gaps, but to me it's as a worthy element as discovering the villain's identity, because it shows me how gracious Kiera is. 

Regarding Alfred's and then Rory's disappearance, I must say that this time I kind of suspected the villain to be the one who eventually turned out to be the correct, and the only reason I thought this is because that person seemed too inconspicuous. The reasons for the acts and the methods seemed to be based on far fetched ideals and I can't imagine how no one really pondered things before, since similar enough situations had happened to other members of the family. The explanation given at the end was a little weak... I can accept his as not being as great as it could because I like the main characters and I enjoy reading about their lives, but yes, something better could have been done.

This book also provided interesting facts about Sebastian and his childhood, his mother... things that had been alluded to in other books finally have some answers. I felt a little frustrated, though, that the family couldn't get past what divided them before, so that they could be a more united group now. This felt a little sad as well, considering some events in the book and how they cannot be changed. In the middle of this, though, we get to see Sebastian relying on Kiera's support, to think and to go through what would be difficult o him, establishing their relationship as even stronger for that.

This said, although this installment wasn't the strongest, plot wise, it was still a good one, now i'm more than invested in the characters and in what happens to them. Of course, for those who aren't familiar with the series, perhaps it's best to not start here...

Grade: 7/10