Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.
When Kiera and Gage’s search leads them to even more gruesome discoveries, a series of disturbing notes urges Lady Darby to give up the inquiry. But Kiera is determined to both protect her family and prove her innocence, even as she risks becoming the next victim…
Comment: I've been recently interested in the historical fiction genre when it includes mystery and romance. I've been following a few series and this one caught my attention as well, and that is why this book was in the pile.
Lady Kiera Darby is the widow of dr Anthony Darby, a renowned doctor and anatomist, but it came to light that it was Kiera who did the drawings of her husband's work. When certain problems came to light, she was also accused of being part of something illegal and even though deemed innocent, the gossip followed her. She has been living in peace at her sister's but now that they hosted a house party, she still feels uncomfortable by some of the guest's looks and opinions, especially since things become incredibly worrisome when a female guest is murdered. Kiera's brother in law requests the help of fellow guest Sebastian Gage, who has experience in investigation, and along with Kiera they decide to check the deceased's body for clues and from then on, to identify who might be the culprit. The problem is that the killer is still at the house and who knows what will happen if Kiera and Gage get too close...
I was positively surprised by this story and even though a part of me could not help but compare it with similar stories I've liked in the same genre, I feel confident to say I will at least read the next installment too. The author's "voice" was appealing and I thought the narrative flew by well enough.
Lady Kiera is not a common woman. She is a talented painter and she believed that marrying sir Anthony would be a way for her to have a marriage where they could be interested in the same things, but it turned out that her husband didn't have the same idea in what he expected, so their relationship wasn't as balanced as she imagined. In fact, her husband's interests weren't conventional, he was very focused on anatomy and he used her talent for drawing to become an expert, never recognizing his wife's help until the problems began.
I can understand this set up to make two things happen at the same time: making us aware that lady Kiera has had a bad marriage and is likely ready to be with someone who will love her, and that she was not appreciated but her talent and ability will be useful in future investigations. Some of this information is given to us throughout the novel, some things we infer by her behavior and conversations, and of course this is the element that makes these novels so interesting. We get to find out things by the characters' actions and how often they are as surprised as we are by certain things.
The plot is not too complicated and developed in a sort of predictable way, considering the genre: the woman found dead had a secret and someone is determined to keep it that way. As Kiera and Gage investigate, or by checking places or by talking to other guests, they start uncovering details about the victim's personality and life and about those who were closer to her and who might know more about her life, thus her possible secrets. The motif isn't really unheard of and things do happen in a slightly predictable way, which doesn't have to be a bad thing, if the story goes on in an engaging manner.
I think the author did manage to add one or two elements which were intriguing to shake things up, but for those used to thrillers or mysteries, even in different genres, this wasn't anything spectacular. Despite this, the plot did develop at a believable pace, and as one would expect, in between these things, we got to know the main characters better and there was even a small hint of a possible connection between Kiera and Gage. Even if I had not seen references to this possibility in blurbs of future books, it's not necessary to be a genius to guess where the author is taking this...
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