January 29, 2018
Set in 1831, Huber’s unsettling sixth Lady Darby mystery (after 2016’s A Brush with Shadows) takes whip-smart Kiera Gage and her husband, Sebastian, back to his unhappy boyhood home of Langstone Manor in Dartmoor. Fifteen years after Sebastian’s last visit, his aunt Vanessa is still frighteningly bitter; his grandfather, the Viscount Tailstock, is deathly ill; and his roguish bully of a cousin, Alfred, has disappeared on the moors. More mischief ensues. Sebastian and Kiera are attacked in their guest rooms, they encounter a woman said to be in a relationship with the missing Alfred who may be a witch, and Kiera becomes violently ill after drinking poisoned tea. Still, they press on, talking to locals about the missing Alfred and trying gently to pry information from the viscount on his sickbed. Meanwhile, Kiera attempts to overcome Sebastian’s stubborn silence about his past, particularly his mother’s death, while holding her own with his family. It’s a long and winding story, but the unexpected ending satisfies. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary.