This is the second in the series following Silent in the Grave. Raybourn's sophomore book continues in the aftermath of the first. Lady Julia Grey is recuperating in Italy with two of her brothers when their father summons them all home for Christmas at the family estate in England. During an innocent games of sardines, a man is found dead in the chapel, with one of Julia's cousins, Lucy, standing above him with a bloody candelabra.
I liked this book. I like Raybourn's style of writing. I feel like a better author could have tackled this same plot in a much more convincing manner. Most of Julia's family were staying at the house (a former Abbey so its massive), her love interest from book one with his new fiance, her poor distant cousins Lucy and Emma, Lucy's new fiance, his cousin, and the new pastor in the nearby village. The night of the murder a huge snowstorm trapped everyone in the family in the Abbey for next few days, creating an island with one murderer on it, and a dead body stored in the larder, in the middle of pastoral England. However, it was easy to assume that no one in Julia's immediate family would have been the murderer, which immediately eliminated quite a bit of the household. Despite the large gathering, only a few people could possibly have been viable suspects.
In the middle of the book, a second crime is committed, which brings to light the true story behind Brisbane and his new fiance, and why they are staying with Julia's family. This angle essentially fell into the story from nowhere. Usually when surprises happen mid-plot, there were clues leading up the event if you were reading close enough to catch them. That didn't happen here.
All that being said, I still enjoyed the book. Julia's family is eccentric, but instead of shunning them, the wayward family members are embraced.
I already downloaded book 3 in the series. Reading these in a row makes me feel like I'm falling into Victorian England.
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