Date published: March 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2614-4
Victorian Mystery
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
The third installment of the Lady Julia Grey mystery series opens with Julia on the eve of leaving for Yorkshire to be with Brisbane. Not that he has invited her. In fact, when he invited Julia’s sister Portia to come help him set his new home to order, he explicitly directed her to leave Julia behind. Well Julia is having none of that. Aside from coming into her own after exposing her husband’s murderer and coming to terms with the man he was, she has finally admitted to herself, sort of, that she is in love with Brisbane. Determined to find out once and for all if he shares her feelings, Julie departs London with Portia, her maid Morag, pet raven, Grim and her dog Florence. At her father’s insistence younger brother Val accompanies the sisters. Upon their arrival Brisbane barely disguises his displeasure at Julia returning to his life, yet he does not argue with her about staying. Instead, the next morning, he departs for Scotland on an investigation.
Much to Julia’s surprise, rather than accept the title offered to him in SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY, Brisbane requested the lands of Grimsgrave. What was once an impressive estate has rotted and crumbled to a heap of stones sitting on the moor. The moldering house is inhabited by the Allenby women, Lady Allenby, Ailith and Hilda, each with their own deadly secrets. When Julia hears their story, at least the one she pieces together, she is determined to help them re-establish themselves in some fashion. Yet the women do not want her help. Rather, like Brisbane they want her to leave, but Julia will not until she and the man she loves have it out. As she settles in to live at Grimsgrave Julia meets a nearby neighbor, Rosalie Smith, a gypsy woman with a charming cottage on the crossroads. She also occupies her time by digging through Egyptian artifacts left by the Allenbys’ brother, believing she is helping the women. What she uncovers though shakes her world in ways she never imagined, not the least of which is the attempted murder of her beloved Brisbane.
SILENT ON THE MOOR is the third in the Lady Julia Grey series and no less enjoyable than SILENT IN THE GRAVE or SILENT IN THE SANCTUARTY. What I particularly enjoyed was the Gothic overtone to the story. I am a huge fan of a well done gothic and it seems there are fewer and fewer available. It was a delightful surprise to see those elements in SILENT ON THE MOOR, that gloomy, shadowy tension, never knowing if the hero and heroine will find their way to each other. That feeling of something evil lurking behind every door, ready to slither out of each corner, knowing its tendrils are reaching out to the heroine.
The tension between Brisbane and Julia reaches to a taunt peak. Each time he turns away from her, each time he seems to mock her, each time he breaks her heart, yet again you want to reach into the pages and shake him. At the same time you want to reach out and hold him, comfort him and protect him from the world that has hurt him so. Julia finds her own well spring of wisdom and celebrates the man he became despite the emotional devastation that whipped through his life at an early age.
Yet there was something not quite satisfying in this installment. I had a sense that either the author was rushed or wanted to be done with the series. The first time I read that one of the sisters “pulled a face” I thought it descriptive and unique. The second time it was descriptive, when it happened another five or more times the phrase became tired. What did it look like? What did it feel like? The ending felt rushed, that someone said the story had to end and the author rushed to do so. Threads were tied too easily rather than entrancing the reader as the first two books in the series did.
Because I love this series and have recommended it to everyone I have met I admit I did read the last line and was happy to see Ms. Raybourn’s signature “that is a story for another time.” I hope the series continues and that there are more with the gothic elements to them. The ending though left me wondering if that was it, that the series has been concluded. I certainly hope not. There is so much depth to all of Ms. Raybourn’s characters that I want to see many more tales and travel the world with Julia and Brisbane.
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