October 1832. Kiera is enjoying the slower pace of the English countryside. She, Sebastian, and their infant daughter have accompanied her father-in-law, Lord Gage, home so that he can recuperate from the injuries he sustained in a foiled attempt on his life. But as the chill of autumn sweeps across the land, they receive a summons from an unexpected quarter. Lord Gage’s estranged uncle—a member of the notorious Roscarrock family—has been murdered, and his family is desperate for answers. Despite Lord Gage’s protests, Kiera and Sebastian press on to Cornwall to assist.
It isn’t long before they discover that almost nothing is as it seems among the Roscarrocks, and they’ve been lured to their isolated cove under false pretenses. There are whispers of a lost treasure and frightening allusions to a series of murders stretching back decades that touch the lives of the family personally. Kiera and Sebastian are left with no choice but to uncover the truth before the secrets of the past threaten to destroy them all.
Comment: This is installment #12 in the Lady Darby series and, once again, it proved to be as enthralling as all the previous books had been.
In this new adventure, things seem to be getting on track for everyone, especially since the events in the past novel made it possible for Sebastian and Kiera to develop a stronger relationship with Sebastian's father, something they are thankful for mostly because of their daughter, who has a grandparent to look up to. When lord Gage receives a letter from his mother's side of the family - known to have been smugglers and not as respected as one might want - telling him about the death of an uncle in a suspicious way, they decide to travel to Cornwall to investigate and, if possible, to try to build bridges with that side of the family. Of course things don't go as easily as they would think, and there are several secrets to uncover...
When characters in long series become familiar, as I've repeated many times already, reading about them is no longer much of a challenge. This 12th installment didn't offer any spectacular content, apart from the novelty of Kiera and Sebastian meeting a side of the family they had not known before, but I still had a good time, even if accepting it wasn't the most thrilling of novels.
The real interest for me is in seeing the characters I've come to appreciate interacting and dealing with new situations in their lives. I liked the fact they could find enough common ground with Sebastian's father so that there is connection there for their daughter to have too. Thinking about this, what difference, indeed, from the early books where lord Gage wasn't likable. The fact he had family he wouldn't discuss was known, but in the last two books, what we learned, told us of some of the reasons why that side of the family isn't one he would want to cultivate. Still, what a great reason to yet another adventure!
In all stories, the fascinating elements to me are the interactions between Kiera and Sebastian and those closer to them. It's comforting to see them well and so on, and of course they now seem to be a united front when dealing with new people. By traveling to the estate of lord Gage's uncle, we have to assume they would find likable and unpleasant people which would help them develop their investigation. I will confess I wasn't particularly captivated by this investigation and perhaps my perspective had also been affected by what had been shared about the characters they would meet. Despite this, it was certainly good to see them get the way of things and learn about each new individual.
As the plot moved along and the investigation about the death of lord Gage's uncle went on, some discoveries are made and I will have to say I was quite surprised by a certain twist. I really didn't see it coming and this did make me more aware and interested in what was happening. I still wasn't fond of the whole smuggler side of things, which the family was reputed for, and when this subject came on here and there, I overlooked it. It turned out that while this wasn't such a big deal as initially might have looked, it had a small role into the conclusion of the story, so everything got wrapped up nicely, in a way.
What was surprising in what this meant to our protagonists is that they didn't seem to regret that this new side of the family wasn't as hard to miss as they might have wanted. The things they learned about them mean that while they aren't all bad people, they still didn't act as Sebastian and Kiera would want and probably they don't wish her daughter to be influenced by them... it almost feels as if this installment was a detour to usual state of things...
While the plot is ongoing, of course there are characters interacting and Bree and Anderley, as servants to Kiera and Sebastian, also play their roles in the usual method of investigation, namely talking to other servants. In this book, however, a situation is played so that Anderley ends up, at some point, in a more vulnerable position, as Bree had been in the previous book. I can't tell if this was to even up the score, or because we only get glimpses through Kiera's narration, but the servants also have an important role in the stories and are seen as people to care about by their employers. I do like this side of things and, as expected, makes me like Sebastian and Kiera more.
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