This got three Stars because the murder mystery was exciting, though the ending of said mystery was very poorly done.

The novel itself though...

Well if not for the constant references of "the beautiful scotland" and the weird accent that only the host and his wife only somtimes had, i would have had no idea it was set in scotland.

The 18 century was not believable because even as she was a widow (and not that naive) the gentleman could not have gotten away with that many that open references to bedding women.

The main love interest was disgusting and absolutely a creep and not trustworthy at all. I would have thought him the murderer if not the murderer was obviously even more creepy at a certain point (and the duke too...) but that was both forgotten as soon as it happened.

The heroine acted mostly incredibly stupid. which annoyed me immensly. as she is supposed to be not naive.



The murderer was mostly. obvious but still quite exciting to read. also all the prejudices were nicely done i think.

More gruesome than necessary, and honestly a little annoying, but I also listened to the audio book which makes her snootier. Overall good opening to a series with an author I like.

Intelligent and well written. I also have to say that any book that has a recommendation from Deanna Raybourn on it will always grab my attention.

I read that if you enjoyed the Lady Sherlock series, you would enjoy this novel as well. I think that’s correct. While not as exciting as the LS novels, it was still a good mystery with well-rounded characters. It had a premise I had not considered before, so that was good.

I thought I knew who the murderer was and got very concerned for awhile, but then I discovered I was completely wrong and all the actions I was reading into were just normal for the characters and scenes.

The story did not end how I expected (and wanted) it to, but I suppose there has to be some continuing thread for the successive novels.

This wasn’t the best mystery I’ve ever read, but it was entertaining and kept me interested the whole way through.

Historical mysteries make me happy. You're dealing with a lack of modern resources and then you have societal norms that are pretty different than today and I enjoy it.

Our protagonist, Kiera, is not like the other society ladies, she's on the outskirts and doesn't care about the latest ball and that's cool and all, but at times it almost drifted too much into "not like those other girls" territory. At times it's relatable, such as not knowing how to flirt, and other times, just felt needlessly judgmental. Still, as someone who has not been judged by all of society, maybe that's how I would react had I been. Kiera's passionate about art and her family. I did love her relationship with her family, particularly her sister which we see on full display.

Our male protagonist, Gage, well, I never really felt like I had a proper feel for him. Hopefully the other books can flesh him out for me and it's a bit of a side effect of the book being told from Kiera's point of view.

As for the mystery itself, it's alright. I definitely was more invested in the characters than the mystery, so that's something. I wasn't fan of the crime, it was more violent than I'm comfortable with. It's not described overly gorey or anything like that, but no thank you.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will read the next in the series. There are a couple of moments where it felt more like she was recalling the story to someone rather than experiencing it first hand. There were some vague future predictions that seemed out of place. The entire story is in first person, which also may not be your cup of tea.

Worth checking out if you enjoy historical fiction and mystery intertwined. There were a few stumbling blocks, but overall I enjoyed the story and the center mystery is definitely engaging.

Anna Lee Huber has clearly done a lot of research about places and events and incorporates them well into her story. While the characters do have some more modern traits, I wouldn't say it is distracting.

Interesting mystery, a winning heroine and dapper hero.

SUMMARY:

Spoiler

Lady Darby was vilified by society after her late husband forced her to sketch as he dissected cadavers; 1800s Great Britain did not think this appropriate behavior for a woman, so obviously she's also a cannibal, etc., etc. Kiera is a talented painter but also shy - she flees to her sister's husband's estate to hide from the world, taking the occasional anonymous portrait commission from the Borders. Her sister holds a dinner party; one of the female guests is found murdered, throat slit, in the garden. Party attendee Sebastian Gage is known as an investigator, and while the messenger goes to fetch the local law enforcement, Phillip (Kiera's brother-in-law) enlists Gage's help to solve the murder. Kiera is told to help, as she has anatomy knowledge. The murdered lady was pregnant and the murderer cut out the fetus - no murder weapon or fetus is found. OK. So Gage and Kiera set out to solve the mystery, and Kiera manages to do so.

A few twists, a creative premise, and a bit of romantic entanglement. Excellent introduction to a series!

In this mystery set in the early 1800s, Lady Darby served as illustrator to her late husband's anatomy books. Her work is deemed "unnatural" for a woman. During a party at a Scottish estate, a guest is murdered and dissected, forcing Lady Darby to unravel the mystery or become the prime suspect.