Silent In The Grave
by Deanna Raybourn
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Book Reviews of Silent In The Grave
Book Review: Ravens and Psychics and Gypsies, oh my!
Summary: 4 Stars
From the first line of this book, the reader is hooked into Julia Grey's world. I thought the plot flowed nicely, and the author developed some really unique characters. Brisbane's complex anti-hero (who suffers migraines and is psychic) is darkly seductive. And Raybourn turned a raven into practically his own character, which I thought cleverly done.
The only thing that prevents me from giving this five stars is the author's propensity for layering in 21st-century sensibilities into a 19th-century story. A peer of the realm happily condoning his daughter living in a lesbian relationship? Aristocrats cavorting about a gypsy camp? These kinds of things seemed like deliberate modern political stances and pulled me out of the story.
Other than that, this is a great debut novel and I look forward to reading more in the series.
Book Review: Very enjoyable murder mystery set in Victorian times
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the best opening lines I've read in a long time: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."
How can you resist reading more? Eventually I found the character of Lady Julia a bit too Victorian and self obsessed for my taste (barging in on an obviously sick man, ignoring his health and demanding that the inquiries keep progressing, ) but despite that lull half way through the book, by the end I was hooked again.
This is a very enjoyable murder mystery set in Victorian London with the death of an Earl and his late wife investigating. However the most intriguing character was that of the detective - Nicholas Brisbane. I hope to see more of him, and as the book ended promising a sequel, I'm sure I will. A keeper.
Book Review: Silent in the recycling bin
Summary: 1 Stars
The period detail is interesting enough and the prose is certainly assured. But someone, be it the editor or perhaps the writer, should have to spend extra time in purgatory for so many pages and pages of description that are in excess of the plot. Whenever our dear heroine, Lady Julia, arrives in a new victorian sitting room to collect another down-payment on the unfolding mystery, you know you'll have to sit through a great many splashings of tea and natterings about nothing. And not a page goes by without a replaying of the tape that occupies the heroine's mental landscape, a constant buzzing refrain on the contradictions between her conventional soul and her feisty family. May the gods spare us. Silent in the Grave is repetitive and dull, perhaps only to be savored when you're half-witted with the latest flu bug.
Book Review: Buy before the new cover!
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I read this book through, I read quickly, devouring the plot. The second time, I was delighted to find scrumptious tidbits of wit that I'd missed. Lady Julia's family is amusingly quirky, and her disillusionment with her husband is heartbreaking and realistic. Nicholas Brisbane is wonderful to read about, though I suspect he'd be fatiguing in real life. While Julia quickly discovers her attraction to him, the focus of the book is on Julia's self-discovery rather than the romance.
Which brings me to the point: if you have any intention of buying this book, do it now, while you can get it in the elegant red cover. The author has published the new covers on her website, and they are cheesy and inappropriate for the subject matter and time period. I'm afraid the publishers have seriously misjudged their audience.
Book Review: Big Career Ahead Here, Get Out of the Way
Summary: 5 Stars
Met Deanna Raybourn at a book fair and got a signed copy because I was passing by, although I don't really enjoy historical romances, and had never heard of her. But the author was such a beautiful, elegant woman, and so gracious, that I instantly liked her, so once home I begrudgingly started to read. HOLY MACKEREL, CAN THIS KID WRITE! She creates characters and scenes with such quick, deft strokes of the keyboard, and with such masterly polish, she had me laughing with admiration and delight. And this goes on the whole book long, not just for the first 100 pages! This was a first novel? SERIOUSLY?
I don't mean to be superficial, but Vogue should check this author out and put her in a period fashion spread in the clothes she describes in such amusing detail in this book. Big career ahead here, get out of the way.