Silent in the Sanctuary: A Lady Julia Grey Mystery
by Deanna Raybourn
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Book Summary Information
Author: Deanna RaybournEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-01
ISBN: 0778324923
Number of pages: 552
Publisher: Mira
Book Reviews of Silent in the Sanctuary: A Lady Julia Grey Mystery
Book Review: "I was determined, well and truly, to be my own woman."
Summary: 5 Stars
Lady Julia Grey is a thirty-year-old widow who almost lost her life in Deanna Raybourn's debut mystery, "Silent in the Grave." The sequel, "Silent in the Sanctuary," opens in a luxurious rented villa near Lake Como in 1887. Julia, who narrates, has been enjoying Italy's picturesque sights and warm climate along with her brothers, Plum and Lysander, and their good friend, the handsome Alessandro Fornacci. Since she helped private inquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane hunt down her late husband's killer, Julia has developed a taste for intrigue and danger. She longs for "something more important than the embroidering of cushions or the pouring of tea to sustain me." Julia gets her chance for excitement sooner than she expects when her father, the wealthy and influential Earl March, peremptorily summons the siblings home to Bellmont Abbey, the family estate in England. The Earl is furious with Lysander who, without asking permission of his father, has wed a fiery Neapolitan woman named Violante. Since Lysander has very little money of his own, he is dependent on the Earl's financial support to cover his living expenses. If the earl were to cut them off, Ly and his wife would be destitute.
Although Julia is happy to be at home with her family, she dreads seeing Brisbane again. She cannot forget the moment when "we had both of us reached beyond ourselves" and kissed passionately. Unhappily, their relationship never progressed beyond that one feverish encounter, and she has not heard a word from him in five months. However, Julia still cherishes the pendant that he gave her bearing the lovely inscription, "For where thou art, there is the world itself."
Julia and her brothers arrive four weeks before Christmas to find a large group of guests in residence at March House: their saucy and sarcastic sister, Portia; the vicar and his new curate, Lucian Snow; their poor orphaned cousins, Emma and Lucy Phipps; Dorcas, a portly and cranky old aunt; Lucy's much older fiancé, the overbearing Sir Cedric Eastley; Henry Ludlow, Cedric's cousin and secretary,; Hortense, the Earl's lady friend and a former courtesan; and most shocking of all, Nicholas Brisbane and his future wife, the lovely widow, Charlotte King. It takes all of Julia's considerable pride, breeding, and restraint to keep from showing her true feelings towards Brisbane's intended: "She was a Fragonard milkmaid, a Botticelli nymph. I hated her instantly."
When one of the Earl's guests is murdered, Julia and Nicholas join forces to find and apprehend the perpetrator. In the course of the novel, people are robbed, bludgeoned and poisoned. The deliciously intricate plot features phantoms, gypsies, and jewel thieves as well as deception, secrets, shocks, and betrayals. Raybourn has come up with the perfect recipe for a Victorian murder mystery: Take one spunky and meddlesome heroine. Add a dark and handsome gentleman with a shadowy past and a tortured soul. Mix in family scandals and a dollop of murder. Sprinkle with a generous portion of witty and acerbic dialogue, and top it all off with an imaginative and unexpected conclusion. "Silent in the Sanctuary" is a marvel that will have Raybourn's mesmerized readers turning pages well into the night. Miss it at your peril.
Summary of Silent in the Sanctuary: A Lady Julia Grey Mystery
fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends? but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters.Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget?the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane?is among her father's houseguests? and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.
But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel, and a member of Lady Julia's own family confesses to the crime. Certain of her cousin's innocence, Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again. When a sudden snowstorm blankets the abbey like a shroud, it falls to Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane to answer the shriek of murder most foul.
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