Review: delicious mystery-romance hybrid, with a lovable heroine and a swoon-worthy detective
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 15, 2009
THIS is why I love my Kindle...three great books for the price of one.  After reading the reviews I thought the Julia Grey trilogy would be worth reading, and for $10 I was willing to gamble on the omnibus edition.  It was a good bet.The Julia Grey books are hybrid mystery-romances set in the Victorian period, best suited to readers who enjoy both genres.  Mystery is the dominant element in each book, but the romance between Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane is the backbone to the trilogy.  The slow, methodical development of the mysteries is nicely counterbalanced by the tempestuous relationship that develops between Julia and Brisbane.  The writing is elegant and rich, and it was a real pleasure to immerse myself in it.The omnibus contains all three books in the trilogy:SILENT IN THE GRAVE - This introduces us to our heroine, Lady Julia Grey, and begins with her husband's murder.  As the winning first line of the novel tells us: "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."  Julia had been quiet, obedient, and dull all her life - the freedom of widowhood sparks a journey of self-discovery.  When Julia realizes her husband was murdered, more than a year after he died, she is determined to find the killer - no matter how cold the trail.  To succeed, she needs the help of Nicholas Brisbane, the private investigator her late husband hired before his death to investigate a series of ominous threats.SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY - This second book takes place at the family seat in Sussex, a converted abbey in the dead of winter.  The novel is richly atmospheric - a holiday party is trapped inside the fantastical gothic structure during a terrible snowstorm.  One among them is murdered, and another must be the culprit.  There are gypsies, ghosts roaming the stone-flagged halls, secret passages, impecunious relatives and a talking raven named Grim.  But SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY turns these gothic cliches on their heads as Julia and Brisbane race against time to find the murderer before the snow melts.SILENT IN THE MOORS - Like the second book, this one picks up - and transforms - a cliche: a dark, ominous, half-ruined estate in the northern moors of Yorkshire, capped by a rotting manor house, where dark family secrets fester.  Brisbane has acquired the estate, and his letters back to London indicate that something is very wrong - although he won't say exactly what.  Julia makes the journey north to investigate her relationship with Brisbane, and provide what help she can.  She's soon caught up in a proper mystery, featuring a family of aristocrats ruined by pride and a pair of mummified corpses hidden in a monk's hole.I devoured the trilogy.  The atmosphere of each book is wonderfully distinct and Raybourn does a wonderful job setting the scene - it's full of rich period detail, and everyone has a story to tell.  The whole cast of characters is magnificent, including every single member of Julia Grey's rather large family - she's one of ten children.  Although I sometimes solved the whodunit a little early in the story, Raybourn usually isn't content with just one crime: there's usually a tangle of them, and always had to wait for the end to see every detail unraveled.Brisbane is a dark, dangerous, mysterious sort of hero - easy to fall for, but terribly frustrating.  Sexy as he is, at times I really wondered if he was worth the trouble.  The romance is stretched out over all three volumes, and Julia and Brisbane's relationship is at least nominally professional - readers will be panting after the cracks in their professional facade.  At the end of the day, I still wished Brisbane had been a little warmer - and I am usually a big fan of brusque, brooding heroes.I started the trilogy expecting something along the lines of Dorothy Sayers, but the homage was really towards the Bronte sisters, Gothic mysteries, and maybe a dash of Sherlock Holmes.  All in all, highly recommended.