Showing posts with label Anna Lee Huber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anna Lee Huber. Show all posts

Friday, February 2, 2024

A Fatal Illusion by Anna Lee Huber

At the end of the last book, Sebastian had gotten word that his father had been attacked. He and Kiera took their whole family, including their four-month-old daughter. He is being housed in a small village near where he was attacked, in the home of a former army doctor, so he at least has good care. 
However, when Sebastian and Kiera try to investigate, they run into a series of problems. There are few in the village who are willing to talk. They are also attacked. Someone is really working to make sure that the reasons for Lord Gage's attack aren't uncovered. And even the people who appear to be helpful aren't actually what they seemed. 
This book was fine but there was a lot going on. It may have been the time of my life and I'd like to re-read it again later because I did enjoy the character building, both the new characters and between Lord Gage and Henry, his son who was claimed by a duke.

Lady Darby Mystery #11
Three stars
This book came out June 20, 2023
Followed by A Deceptive Composition
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

A Certain Darkness by Anna Lee Huber

Verity and Sidney are working to figure out how to take down Lord Ardmore. They seem to be blocked at every turn until a phone call comes in from France. An old informant of Sidney's, Miss Adele Baverel wants to talk to him. So they travel to find out if she is willing to tell them about other collaborators against the Allies. But Miss Baverel ends up dead in her cell and one of the local law enforcement is accusing Verity of having helped her.
This sends them off on a search for the information that Miss Baverel says she hid. Along the way they encounter old friends and enemies and nearly get killed.
This was an okay book but didn't capture me in the same way that previous books in the series did.

Three stars
This book came out August 30, 2022
Borrowed as ebook from library
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

A Perilous Perspective by Anna Lee Huber

Kiera and Sebastian are traveling to the home of a family friend. He is known to have a full gallery of paintings by famous artists. But Kiera notices something is amiss. More than one of the celebrated paintings looks... wrong. Her host is really not excited to learn that they might be forgeries but he knows who is probably at fault; it's the neighbors. He had been engaged to one of them decades before and both sides are still bitter. 
I think regular readers will enjoy this book as much as others in this series. 

Four stars
Follows A Wicked Conceit
This book comes out April 19, 2022
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Friday, August 27, 2021

Murder Most Fair by Anna Lee Huber

Still struggling to adjust to life after the war and after her husband's return from death, Verity Kent is further distressed to be going to her childhood home where her mother's sharp tongue and the ghost of her brother Robby will only bring up bad memories. Her great aunt Ilse has also shown up. The seventy-nine-year-old woman is a favorite relative of Verity's but she is not the same woman Verity remembers. Which makes sense. The woman has lost all of her relatives and her longtime personal maid. Now she has barely made it to a foreign country where many people actively hate Germans. 
They are all off to Yorkshire where Verity's past still seems to haunt her. Then Ilse's maid, Bauer, is brutally murdered and the village is riled up in innumerable ways.
This was a good book and the mystery was fine but even better are the ways that Verity and even Sidney grew in this book. We get to see more of the family that Verity has been avoiding. Family hurts are brought to light; maybe not all healed but at least finally acknowledged. It was a nice diversion from the dealings with Lord Ardmore.

Four stars
Followed by A Certain Darkness
This book comes out August 31st, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own



Saturday, October 10, 2020

A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber

 A lot of good men were injured in the First World War in any number of ways. Verity Kent has her own issues that she is dealing with from being part of a spy network but she feels like she has it better than a lot of other people, including her own cousin. Reggie was blinded in the war and now his mother treats him like an invalid. Yes, he is a lord but that doesn’t mean that he was left any money.
And the estate is (according to his mother) falling down around the family’s ears. So Verity’s parents send her out to see what, exactly, is going on. 
Several mysteries overlap including the history of the estate, a modern day murder, and a matter that dates back to Verity’s time in the war. Another story, well-woven and well-written. I don’t think regular Verity Kent readers will be disappointed.

Three and a half stars
Followed by Murder Most Fair
This book came out October 6th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Saturday, April 4, 2020

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee HuberSix months into her pregnancy, Lady Kiera Darby has been invited to Duchess of Bowmontʼs Twelfth Night party. She and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to relaxing and having some fun. But some of the relationships among the Bowmont family seem strained and it only gets worse when a body is discovered in the catacombs below the house.
No one can identify the corpse but suspicion is quick that it is that of the Duchess's son-in-law who has supposedly been in France for almost a month. But is that really who it is? And why is somebody stealing the evidence that points to that being the case?
The mystery was a little convoluted but I enjoyed getting to know Kiera a little better in this book and seeing how her husband respects what it is that she does.

Three stars
Follows an Artless Demise
Followed by A Wicked Deceit
This book comes out April 7, 2020
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Friday, November 1, 2019

Penny for Your Secrets by Anna Lee Huber

Penny for Your Secrets by Anna Lee HuberVerity's friend Ada was not born into the aristocracy but she did marry into it. AT Ada's for a dinner, Verity is dismayed to find that the relationship, which had lasted for 5 years before their marriage is now, two years after marriage, in disarray. They can barely hide their animosity and most of the guests are ready for the show, including Ada's marked preference for another man.  At dinner, Ada plops a gun on the table and "jokes" that she might shoot her husband. The butler quickly removes it but Verity is shocked to find out that the gun was not put in the chair by Ada. This seems very suspicious but no one else is worried. However, when Lord Rockham is murdered, Ada immediately becomes suspect number one.
But Verity won't be able to work on just one murder. One of her friend's half-sister died and the friend is certain it was murder. The dead woman was one of the people who worked for the Royal Mail, redacting information from soldiers to home. It is very likely that she saw something that could have gotten her killed.
There is a lot of development between Verity and Sydney as they try to find their way through their marriage, both having made mistakes. They were only married for 3 days before he went to war. She thought he died and he thought she stayed home while the truth was, she went into the secret service.
A great addition to the series, even if it does end with Verity realizing she's found her very own Moriarty. Not a cliffhanger per se, but there are definitely things unresolved.

Four stars
Followed by A Pretty Deceit
This book came out October 29th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Friday, May 17, 2019

An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber

An Artless Demise (Lady Darby Mystery #7)When it appears that there are burkers once again digging up people (and maybe even killing in order to provide the medical community with corpses), Kiera is pulled back into a spotlight she never wanted to have. One of the suspected victims is Lord Feckenham. A dissolute scoundrel (and not the lovable kind), very few mourn his passing, even his own family. But the family does want to protect their younger son and Sebastian's father has ordered them to help so Sebastian and Kiera are pulled in. As if the threat of Kiera's past being brought up by the burkings, someone is threatening to publish her first husband's journals.
A very nice addition to the series with great character growth and relationships being strengthened.

Four stars
Followed by A Stroke of Malice
This book came out April 2
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Treacherous Is the Night by Anna Lee Huber

Treacherous Is the Night by Anna Lee HuberVerity and Sydney are trying to figure out the rhythms of their marriage now that Sydney has "returned from the dead." Verity is struggling because he didn't tell her that he wasn't dead and her emotions sent her into a spiral of bad decisions.
When Verity's friend Daphne asks her to attend a seance, Verity is skeptical. Just because most of the world is embracing spiritualism doesn't mean she believes that someone can talk to you after they're dead. Except that Madame Zozza singles Verity out, pretending to be one of Verity's contacts from the war, talking about things that no one knew. When Verity goes back to try and figure out what happened, the spiritualist is dead in a fire.
This sends Verity and Sydney off on an adventure where they will face their demons and have to make some hard decisions about where their marriage is going. It will also uncover men who are working to further the cause of the defeated enemies.
A steady read, this book made me uncomfortable at points because it's depiction of life after war and the peek into the Kents' marriage seemed so real. But definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

Four stars
This book came out September 25
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

A Pressing Engagement by Anna Lee Huber

A Pressing Engagement by Anna Lee HuberKiera is in love with her fiance, Sebastian Gage, but that doesn't mean that she's free of bridal jitters. Luckily, she is distracted by the arrival of her cousin Jock who comes bearing a wedding gift. Surprisingly, it is not some dead animal, but a Scottish torc. In fact, a Scottish torc that looks very much like one that Kiera and Gage have been looking for. The fact that Jock found it in a pawn shop gives Kiera the very excuse to leave the house that she's been looking for. The search brings them back into the path of Bonnie Brock Kincaid, "the head of Edinburgh's largest and most notorious gang of criminals." And it seems that Bonnie Brock is after the favor that Kiera owes him.
A lovely little novella and just a perfect bite for in between books.

Four and a half stars
This novella comes out May 17