A Stroke of Malice

Lady Darby Mystery Series, Book 8

By: Anna Lee Huber

Narrated by: Heather Wilds

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to celebrating with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday.

January 1832. After enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother Kiera and Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmont's Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the festive merrymaking. But upon their arrival at the opulent estate, it becomes obvious that all is not merry in their hostess's home. The family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

Matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the partygoers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castle's crypt. The corpse is thought to be the duchess's son-in-law who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage soon realize that a ruthless murderer walks among them-and may well be a member of the duchess's own family. And when the investigation takes a treacherous turn, Kiera discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

©2020 Anna Aycock (P)2020 Tantor

Can an audiobooks be unputdownable?

Yes, an audiobook can be unputdownable, and this one was exactly that. It is my new favorite among this author’s mysteries with a touch of romance. The vividly drawn characters. The romantic setting. The intricate plot. All impeccable.

Heather Wilds' performance is perfection!

I flew through the Lady Darby series last year after reading and loving Anna Lee Huber’s Verity Kent series. Both are delightful! When we meet Lady Kiera Darby at the beginning of the series, she is a woman ostracized by society when they found out her late husband had her sketch the dead bodies he dissected for an anatomy journal he planned on publishing. At the time fresh bodies were hard to come by, not many would donate their body to science for this purpose, so medical colleges and people like Sir Darby resorted to buying corpses from questionable sources. It was later found out that some of these suppliers not only robbed fresh graves, but also murdered people to sell as dead medical subjects. Kiera had no knowledge of this, and even if she did there wasn’t much she could’ve done about it since her husband was forcing her to comply by force and threats. He was an awful man, as we learn from Kiera’s memories, and so I was thrilled he died before we’re introduced to her.

This unwanted, unsolicited knowledge of anatomy as well as Kiera’s superb deductive skills make her valuable source of information to Gage, an inquiry agent tasked to solve a murder while staying at her sister’s estate. In Kiera’s estimations, Gage is entirely too full of himself, and the rest, as they say, is history! Each installment tackles a new mystery, while at the center of the series is the relationship between Kiera and Gage. Ms. Huber masterfully created two wonderfully complex characters, faults and all, so of course their journey isn’t all smooth sailing, but I’ve loved every minute!

This is the eighth book in the series, so if you read on, you’re bound to get some spoilers. If you’re planning on reading the series, which I totally recommend, I’d stop right here and go search for the first book! I highly recommend the audio version as Heather Wilds’ performance is perfection!

In A Stroke of Malice Kiera and Gage are intent on relaxing, spending time with family while enjoying the festivities of a Twelfth Night Celebration at the Duchess of Beaumont’s estate in Scotland. This is a happy time for Kiera and Gage, still newly married and expecting their first child. I adore these two together, settled and joyous in their situation! Unfortunately, the happy times are rudely interrupted by the discovery of a dead body in crypt. Gage and Kiera must find out the identity of the body as well as the murderer which is not made easy by the family or guests involved.

The mystery is wrapped up and solved, but as usual I’m left wanting the next story!

Repetitive

I live the plots, but 8 books into the series. I've grown tired of the recycling backstop of characters. It seems to unnecessarily draw out the overall plot. I suppose some backstory needs to be told to keep the books self-sustainable, but the continuous mentioning of relationships between Kiera and her mother, Kiera & Darby, Kiera and why she is the way she is has grown tiresome. The character's growth seems stagnant. Also why she screams for independence and equality, she doesn't always give it to Gage which seems unrealistically unfair. But I do love Gage's undying loyalty and sensibility towards her. She wants space and independence while still wanting doors opened and to be cuddled. I always finish what I start, but I am not completely looking forward to this last installment.

great book

lady Darby mysteries are always great, the narrator does a fantastic job, can't wait for the next one!

Narrator's reading voice is difficult to listen to

I read one chapter. I cannot listen to anymore. The narrator raises her voice at the end of every sentence. It's diffcult to listen to this book.

Very Enjoyable As Always

I truly love thid series abd this book was great. My only disappointment is the length of time we must wait for the next one!

Great

Another wonderful addition to this series

Murder, mayhem, a family with a diversified brood of adult children and discoveries that were unexpected!

Great narration and storyline as always!

Enjoy this series

I enjoy this series but agree with other reviewers that, in this particular book, the narrator had an odd cadence that wasn’t as striking in the previous performances. It distracted from the story as I found myself listening for it.

Spoiler alert

I loooove this series and I did love this book too. I just found it odd that Kiera and Gauge couldn’t even imagine that the body that had been found could have been someone besides the Earl just because of the clothes he had on. It seems like they would have gotten there sooner.

fantastic read

It's January 1832 and after enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother Lady Kiera Darby and husband Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmontʼs Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the festive merrymaking. But all is not merry in their hostess’s home. The family appears to be under a great stress, and someone is determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

Matters swiftly turn deadly when the party-goers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castleʼs crypt. Gage and Keira are naturally asked to investigate. The corpse is thought to be the duchessʼs son-in-law who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. But when the investigation takes a treacherous turn, Kiera discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.

Great read as are all the books in this series. They just keep getting better. So looking forward to the next book and hopefully the birth of Keira and Gages's son or daughter.