“You only saw a bit of danger and intrigue and thought you would like to have it for yourself. But you must open your eyes to the rest of it. To the tedium and the hard work and the dedication it requires. You cannot play at being a detective, Julia. To do so demeans the work of one who does it seriously.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky  (DEC 26, 2010)

Sometimes, marriage is the kiss of death for a series in which a man and woman quarrel incessantly but finally realize that they are essential to one another’s happiness. Fortunately, the union of Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane enhances rather than detracts from Deanna Raybourn’s Dark Road to Darjeeling. The author keeps us engrossed by removing her characters from their comfort zone and placing them in a lovely Indian tea garden amid scenic mountains and valleys; making it clear that although Julia and Brisbane remain passionately in love (as we are reminded incessantly every time they repair to their bedchamber), they still have issues about Julia’s habit of courting danger; and providing supporting roles for Julia’s sarcastic siblings, Portia and Plum, Julia’s grumpy maid, Morag, and Portia’s sweet-natured friend, Jane, who is widowed and expecting her first child.

The year is 1889, and after a nine-month honeymoon during which Julia and her husband explored “the most remote corners of the Mediterranean,” the newlyweds are ready to go home. Portia has other ideas. She drags Julia to India to visit Jane, whose husband, Freddy Cavendish, recently died in India under mysterious circumstances. Not only does Portia want to spend time with Jane, whom she adores, but she wants to determine if Freddy died from natural causes. Naturally, Julia likes nothing more than a good mystery and she wastes no time sticking her nose into the affairs of every individual in the vicinity. Julia learns that quite a few people, including Jane herself, had sound reasons to want Freddy dead. During the course of the narrative, Julia’s husband, who makes his living as a private enquiry agent, clashes with someone from his past, liaisons are formed between unlikely couples, and the March siblings all evolve emotionally in ways that they never could have foreseen.

Dark Road to Darjeeling is an uproarious, lively, perfectly paced, and thoroughly entertaining romp, filled with witty dialogue and offbeat characters. They include a perpetually inebriated physician, a female photographer named Cassandra Pennyfeather who is unabashedly avant-garde, a “White Rajah” who, on the surface, seems to be “a darling old gentleman,” Freddy’s stern and formidable spinster aunt, Camellia Cavendish, and a young boy with a zeal for scientific experimentation. There is even a man-eating (or possibly woman-eating) tiger roaming the neighborhood. The ladies are instructed to shoot themselves rather than allow the tiger to tear them limb from limb. Red herrings abound and nothing, we soon ascertain, can be taken at face value.

As if all this were not enough to keep us turning pages, Raybourn touches on a few serious themes, such as the role of women in British society; the treatment of servants and others of the “lower classes;” and the inequities in the laws of inheritance. Julia’s brother, Plum, brings up a particularly telling point when he says of himself, Julia, and Portia, “We are dilettantes, but never virtuosos. We have talent, but because of father’s money we are never forced to use that talent to drive us.” Julia comes to realize that, as a well-to-do and pampered daughter of an earl, she must find more productive ways to fill her time. Otherwise, she may wind up spending her days as little more than a decorative ornament, unhappy and unfulfilled.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 56 readers
PUBLISHER:	Mira; Original edition (October 1, 2010)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Deena Raybourn
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Silent on the Moor Silent in the Sanctuary Silent in the Grave

Bibliography:

• Silent in the Grave (January 2007)
• Silent in the Sanctuary (January 2008)
• Silent on the Moor (March 2009)
• Dark Road to Darjeeling (October 2010)

“I lifted my hand and touched a fingertip to his cheek. He jerked backward as if I had scorched him, dropping his hand from my face. He shook his head slowly, as if emerging from a dream.

‘Do not push me too far, Julia. You have meddled with me in ways I ought never to have permitted. But I will finish what I began here, and you will not interfere with me again.’ ”

Book Review:

Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky (MAY 30, 2009)

Deanna Raybourn’s Silent on the Moor, the third installment in her series featuring Lady Julia Grey, opens in London in 1888. Thirty-year old Julia is about to embark on a journey to visit the mysterious and mercurial inquiry agent, Nicholas Brisbane. The bad-tempered but very attractive Brisbane, who has gypsy blood and a mysterious past, pulls Julia towards him with one hand and drives her away with the other. She has not seen him since he purchased Grimsgrave Hall, a dilapidated house on the Yorkshire moors. He lives there with his servants and the last of the Allenby clan, a proud but down-on-their luck family whose fortunes have taken a steep decline. Brisbane had originally asked Portia, Julia’s outspoken sister, to help him organize his household, but he has since rescinded the invitation. Although Julia knows that Brisbane will be greatly displeased, she decides that she must see him again in order to find out if they are destined to be together.

What follows is a Gothic tale of long buried secrets, forbidden passion, and murder. After she settles in at Grimsgrave, Julia, as is her wont, sticks her nose in where it does not belong. She is determined to uncover the truth behind the strange behavior of Hilda Allenby, her beautiful sister, Ailith, and their infirm and sanctimonious mother. In addition, Julia decides to investigate the affairs of the late Egyptologist, Redwall Allenby, Hilda’s and Ailith’s brother, who was reputed to be cruel, selfish, and deceitful.

Readers are strongly advised to finish Raybourn’s first two books, Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary, before they pick up Silent on the Moor. This will provide a clearer picture of Lady Julia’s evolution from a cosseted wife “wrapped in cotton wool” to the audacious, forthright, and daring woman she has become. Raybourn has written an entertaining and intelligent novel that seamlessly and elegantly combines humor, mystery, and romance. Silent on the Moor is distinguished by its witty dialogue, intriguing and well-developed characters, impeccable sense of time and place, and immensely absorbing plot. Those who are already hooked on Deanna Raybourn’s fiction will be eager to spend more time with the unique and captivating Lady Julia Grey.

AMAZON READER RATING:	from 88 readers
PUBLISHER:	Mira (March 1, 2009)
REVIEWER:	Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK?	YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE:	Deanna Raybourn
EXTRAS:	Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION:	Read our review of: Dark Road to Darjeeling Silent in the Sanctuary Silent in the Grave

Bibliography:

• Silent in the Grave (January 2007)
• Silent in the Sanctuary (January 2008)
• Silent on the Moor (March 2009)
• Dark Road to Darjeeling (October 2010)