41. Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Silent in the Grave is the first in a series starring Lady Julia Grey. I believe there are two more completed novels, but don't know how many are planned. The first two sentences of the book grab your attention immediately: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor." At first, I didn't care for the two main characters much. Julia is too meek and innocent and Nicholas is too cranky. But they grew on me. I especially liked that Julia is not immediately beautiful and intelligent. She is quite brave and impetuous but does some really dumb things. There is a great deal of attraction between her and Nicholas but the author wisely draws this out. In this book, they kiss only once but I'm interested enough to continue reading the series to see how they will eventually get together. The investigation into the mystery itself takes quite a while to get going. I think the book would have been much better if some of the extraneous information had been deleted. Julia has an eccentric family which may explain why so many of her behaviors are not what you would expect of a Victorian aristocrat, but she still pushes your belief. Overall, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the next one. Rating: 4