Kat with a K

Review: Silent in the Grave

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
Genre: Mystery, historical (Victorian)
Pages: 509
Rating: 4.1

This debut novel tells the story of a young widow, Lady Julia Grey, who decides that her husband's death was not what it seemed and begins to investigate. She is soon joined in her investigation by a handsome, mysterious man. She is, of course, an intellectual and forward-thinking young woman and, though she has the support of some of her family, she clashes with more narrowminded people along the way. She discovers family secrets, comes to sweeping conclusions about social justice (curiously ahead of her time), daringly puts herself in danger, and eventually finds justice and true love.

Yes, I did deliberately make that sound completely conventional. (Or, more specifically, like every Amanda Quick novel ever.) It was, in a way. But it wasn't bad. Nothing that happened was particularly surprising, but I wasn't bored, either. The characters annoyed me at times, but I couldn't stop reading. I'm not sure why it was classified as mystery rather than romantic suspense - it seemed much closer to Quick and other historical romantic suspense than it did to most historical mysteries. The language was a bit clunky in places, but I'll chalk that up to it being a first novel, and give the next one a try when it is released.