When I found "The Dead Travel Fast" by Deanna Raybourn in our donation pile, it looked like a novel I'd enjoy reading, so it came home with me. In scanning the book's back cover blurbs I learned Raybourn also writes a series featuring an amateur sleuth, Lady Julia Grey. Hmmm. I thought those sounded like good reads also and jotted down the titles to see if the library owned them. Well, before I could check to see if we had them, I found the second title in our donation pile. Yippee.
Most authors of series will do a decent enough job recapping what came to pass in the first book as they set up the second book. Raybourn is no exception and I was able to read this novel, "Silent in the Sanctuary" without feeling lost in the larger plot/character arcs.
Lady Julia is one of ten children in the eccentric March family....they inspired the saying "mad as a March hare." She is a recent widow, her husband having been murdered. This death is the basis for the first book from what I can tell. At the opening of book two, Julia is in Italy with two of her brothers enjoying the country and resting. They are called home to England by their father for the holidays. An assortment of friends and family are visiting the March ancestral home, Bellmont Abbey. When one of the house guests turns up dead in the abbey's sanctuary, Julia along with Brisbane, the man who helped her solve her husband's murder and has since stolen her heart, have only days to unravel what has happened.
Raybourn does a wonderful job juggling a wide assortment of characters. I fell in love with the Marches and am now on the hunt for the first book, "Silent in the Grave."
The fall time change has my internal clock quite befuddled. I woke yesterday at 3:50 and today at 4:40. I hope that by tomorrow I am adjusted to the 'new' time and can stay in bed for a few more minutes. Although, the quiet and peace in the house at 4:00 in the morning is enjoyable!! Busy week this week for all of us. The oldest will have school work to make up. The youngest will have school work to make up as he was ill on Friday, but was recovered enough to make the long awaited trip to the space center in Huntsville, Alabama. He loved it. We have a soccer banquet to attend. The middle kid has her first club soccer practice of the year with her new coach. I have a book club meeting to visit so I can explain the new program.
A wide variety of events will make this a very interesting week!
2 comments:
These books sound awesome.
I am having a hard time adjusting to the time change. I was up at 4 am this day, thinking it was 5 am as I hadnt changed the bedside clock yet. Oh well! Since I feel more myself, I got dishes done, laundry done, writing done, bills paid and mailed, and the dog fed and pottied, and ALL before 6 am!!
They are really very good, Kim. I did find the first one on the library's shelves and am reading it now. The time change is still messing with me....but we will adapt eventually!! Glad you are feeling better:)
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