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What a fun novella. Yes, I wish it were a novel but...

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2014

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I have decided not to grouse about the fact that we have yet again another very short visit with the charming March family, Lady Julia and her husband Brisbane. I will not mention that we haven't had a full-length Lady Julia novel since 2011 and I will not say that her rival detective Lady Emily has just solved her 9th (that's right, 9th) full-length mystery while Julia has only 5 full-length mysteries to her credit. No, I will not mention this at all in this review.

Instead I will just say that this novella was lots of fun. Brisbane and Julia are now caring for little Jack, baby son of Brisbane's father, and Julia is discovering that, although she dearly loves Jack, her finer abilities lie with solving mysteries, not with careful child care, so thank goodness for crusty maid Morag, who has transferred her main devotion from Brisbane to little Jack. It's little personal touches like this that keep us fans devoted to Lady Julia and her family.

This novella's mystery starts off with Brisbane inheriting a country house which must be inhabited by him from All Hallow's Eve through Bonfire Night if he wishes to maintain ownership. Although very suspicious about all this, off they go, Julia, Brisbane, Plum, Portia, the two babies and their entourage. Strange things happen. Is it a haunted house? Why has Nicolas inherited it? Why must they be present at this particular time?

Keep reading. It's lots of fun. It may be my favorite Lady Julia novella to date.

M. DETWILER

A slide into snarkiness

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2015

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I remember my joy and delight when I first read the Julia Grey Silent series. Julia was a delight as she went from sheltered society wife to Brisbane's consort. But, she's not so delightful anymore. I have found that each succeeding novel, then novella, has seen her snarkiness ratchet up a level or two. She seems so cynical and jaded, no longer delighting in the antics of her raven or her family.
In Bonfire Night, the idea that she loses her "son" several times over while in the park just doesn't seem like the same Julia who was so concerned for Simon in the first book. I know everyone isn't cut out to be a mother, but I think that having her unable to have children has just given her an edge that isn't pretty. She actually seems mean now, especially in her interactions with Morag.
With each succeeding novel, I waited a little longer to read it and now, I read these novellas long after they're published. Bonfire Night was a disappointment in that there wasn't much of a plot and the whole mystery of the "haunted" house left me wondering, "Really? That's it?" I think that the author has made Julia into a woman who has lost touch with who she is. She's become a hookah smoking sharp tongued cynic who goes along with whatever's en vogue at the moment. And in this, Rayburn has lost the charm that infused the initial Julia Grey books. Perhaps that's why there are no longer novels but these shorter stories. I, for one, don't think I could stand to read a full length book with this snarky, to me, unlikable character. Too bad, because I still adore Brisbane.

Helen

This is perfect for an afternoon read

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2014

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Deanna Raybourn Bonfire Night
This is a short story, the last in the traditional English holidays series (silent night, midsummer night, twelfth night and now bonfire night). At 56 pp it is not even a novella, and depends upon reading the previous stories, which are also greater appreciated if you have read the full novels, also in order. What a treat if you haven't discovered this author though! I read this as an ARC as well as purchased the ebook.
It is autumn 1890, amateur sleuth Victorian Lady Julia and her detective husband Brisbane have inherited a country property Thorncross in Narrow Wibberly. It is of course haunted but Brisbane had no difficulty solving this mystery. There is the usual witty banter, the eccentricity and mayhem we have come to appreciate and expect, and a warm family feeling completing a holiday book. This is perfect for an afternoon read, a satisfying story to occupy a train (or plane) journey or just a short break in your day.

4 stars or familiar short cosy mystery

Read on:
To the Amelia Peabody series of Elizabeth Peters.

Quotes:
"I cursed him inwardly. Plum had only ever been third favourite amongst my brothers, and I was reminded why."
"...and besides, strange solicitors showing up at odd hours speaks to an intrigue."
"In my experience," Brisbane said seriously, "gift horses are usually the ones with the most dangerous bite."
"The house was built of grey stone in a haphazard style and betrayed a certain originality of design."
"The woman is mad enough to be related to us."
"I've only just realised. Little Jack is the first Christmas present my father has ever given me," he said. "And he has given me the only thing of his I could possibly want."

Top reviews from other countries

avidreader

Addictive, but I'm not sorry to see the last of the novellas

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2018

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The Lady Julia Grey series is addictive and I can't explain why it is. I started the books in order, read the first five full-length novels and then the novellas. Somewhere around the fourth book, I felt the plotlines and characterisation was slipping away, and although there was a very poignant situation in the fifth book, I never felt that the author got back to the initial premise of her stories. In the first book,Lady Julia was portrayed as an independent-minded, compassionate woman who was both vulnerable and strong; as the books progressed she became more smug and unthinking - some of her actions were so stupid as to defy belief. Also, in the earlier books, she and her detective husband, the gorgeous, troubled Brisbane, had to work at their relationship - in later books they were cute and cuddly.

My feeling after reading the novellas is that the author perhaps didn't know how to end this series - and frankly, one good novella would have done it! I think the novellas are intended to encourage new readers who aren't familiar with the full-length novels, but if it were me, I wouldn't be tempted. So, to anyone reading the novellas, do try the full length novels; they are far far better.

As I said, for me, these Lady Julia Grey mysteries became addictive, even as I was becoming less and less enchanted by the very slight story lines in the novellas. I think the Lady Julia character changed more than the other characters, which for me meant the other characters [Brisbane, Portia, Plum, Morag, Aquinas] were carrying the story. As another reviewer said, the idea that Julia kept 'forgetting' the baby she and Brisbane had taken in was tasteless and totally out of character; this is the woman who carried a dormouse around in her decolletage, as we were told endlessly. There was no appearance at all in this last novella of the menagerie the couple had collected. At the end of this one, we got a "and God bless us all" moment, wrapping up the series which I assume the author doesn't intend to revive.

Rosy @ The Review Diaries

I adore the Lady Julia mysteries in a way that defies attempting to explain it like a rational human being

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2014

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This review was written for 'The Review Diaries'.
Click here for the full review: http://reviewdiaries.blogspot.fr/2014...

I adore the Lady Julia mysteries in a way that defies attempting to explain it like a rational human being. Let’s just leave it at this: they are wonderful books and if you haven’t read them yet then you need to, because Raybourn is one of the best writers I have had the pleasure of reading. This series of books found me quite by chance when I had finished reading Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Series and wanted something similar. Amazon, in its infinite wisdom suggested I read these, and I have never looked back.

They are brilliantly constructed mysteries with a wonderful heroine at their heart, a broodingly acerbic hero and a cast of excellent characters that make these such a pleasure to come back to. With all that in mind, when the news came out that Deanna Raybourn was parting from her publishers and the chances of another Lady Julia novel had just dropped to virtually non-existant, I was devastated. I love these books and I had hoped to get just one more book to tie up some more ends that had been left. Instead we got the novellas, and whilst I was initially hesitant, Raybourn has done a truly spectacular job of not only telling more of Julia’s story through the four novellas, but also weaving in elements of it into her three novels set in the twenties. Between them we’ve been given a very good idea of where Julia was heading and what happened to her after the events of ‘The Dark Enquiry’.

april

sweet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2017

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cute, lovely, totally unbelievable, but charming...always nice to see a HEA ending to a story, and here it is...the entire series has been a bit too breezy, a bit too much "five on adventure island", but at least mildly amusing...it is pleasant to see high jinks in an aristocratic milieu, and the plots have been at least as good as some of the contemporary stories, though a bit more melodramatic and romantic...and none of the writers of the 1890ties would have dared have so many allusions to sex...that is thoroughly modern, and clearly anachronistic...but ok, reasonably funny, sweet and pleasant...and well written...fairly well paced, and amusing...

bobbs

Another great novella

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2020

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I love the Lady Julia books, keeping readers in touch with their lives and latest adventures, it was very intriguing

gimmielinda

Satisfying conclusion to the series.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2017

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The last of the short stories that conclude Julia's tales. In this one we see how the blended families are doing and we get a conclusion of sorts for a major villain from a previous tale. Satisfying.

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