Beautifully written, slow-paced mystery | Silent in the Sanctuary

Her own woman | Silent in the Sanctuary | Deanna Raybourn

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	• Silent in the Sanctuary Deanna Raybourn Mira, 2008 - 560 pages average customer review:based on 51 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

shamefully delicious

If you need to get lost for a day or so, but just cant bring your brain to absord "The world without us" or "The God Delusion" get this book, a big beach umbrella and enjoy. Sure, its bubblegum, but fabulous bubblegum. The charachters are fun and absorbing and the story holds its own. Some dialogue is hokey, but nothing that will cause you any real pain. Seriously worth it.

Beautifully written, slow-paced mystery

When her brother marries and Italian beauty, Lady Julia Grey's father summons Julia and her two brothers home to the family estate in England. To her surprise, Julia discovers that Nicholas Brisbane--the man she holds some feelings of affection for--has become engaged to a pretty but uninteresting woman and that the two of them are visiting the estate. Also visiting are two of Julia's cousins--one now engaged to a much older man.

The Christmas festivities are destroyed when one guest, a curate from the local church, is murdered. One of the cousins claims sanctuary--an outdated notion even if the old monastery where the March family lives had never been deconcecrated. Yet Julia, working with Brisbane, soon learns that only a man's strong hands could have killed the curate. Julia follows apparent ghosts, tangled leads, and her amorous heart to discover clues that reach well beyond that single murder.

Author Deanna Raybourn writes beautifully, spinning a story set during the height of the British Empire. Julia, torn between her affection toward her young Italian friend and her frustration at Brisbane's incredible engagement, makes for a sympathetic character. In contrast to the richly drawn characters and setting, I found the mystery itself a bit convoluted. The not-quite-parallel mysteries of murder and jewel theft didn't really complement one another. And mystery readers may grow impatient waiting, as the murder doesn't occur until the midpoint in the novel.

SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY is an interesting blend between romance and mystery. Raybourn is clearly a talented author--I'll certainly look for more of her books in the future.

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Her own woman

Lady Julia Grey (ne March) narrates and stars in the sequel to Silent in the Grave, which is also a 5-star book. A Victorian aristocrat from an eccentric family, Lady Julia is recovering in Italy from the events in the first book when her father summons her and her brothers home for Christmas. Julia, her two brothers, her maid, a new sister in law, and an Italian suitor travel home for the holidays, home being an unconsecrated abbey that has been in the March family for centuries. Various other family members, friends (oh, it's nice to see Fleur again, but I wish she had a bigger part!) are already at the abbey when they arrive. There is also (cue the sexual tension) Nicholas Brisbane, a detective who she had worked with before. Oh, and shared a kiss. But that was months ago, and now he's engaged to a silly widow who might be more than she seems. Then someone dies, and they're snowed in, and then jewels go missing, and Cook is quite upset that there's a dead body in the game larder!

Lady Julia has a wonderfully dry sense of humor and a crazy-yet-functional family. The setting is appropriately gothic - there's even a stuffed bear (real bear, not teddy bear) in the hall that figures into the mystery. Even though there's great attention to detail, the story never bogs down. I did feel there were maybe a few too many characters to really get to know all of them, though at least I could see what their functions to the story were.

This book (and so far the series) has been very well thought out and researched, and I can't wait for the next one, which I hear is called Silent on the Moor. "But that is a tale for another time."

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Silent in the Sanctuary is a solid read for Rayborn fans

A solid read, captivating readers with the sexual tension and underlying passion between the heroine and the dark hero. For fans of this author, you will find it her most compelling yet and anxious for the next saga. Write Deanna write!

Much better than the first novel

This book was definitely better than the last. To a point I did enjoy [book:Silent in the Grave], but the solving point I felt ruined what could have been a perfectly great mystery. But that's enough about that. I really enjoyed this one. This was not just one mystery, but several wrapped up in one. There was some romance and extreme feelings between various persons and trying to see them was a task. I enjoyed this story, and it makes me anxious to read [book: Silent on the Moor], because I believe it will be even better. The first book I would not recommend to certain audiences, but I believe that most people could read this one without much affect in a negative sense. It is much more tasteful and enjoyable. I felt as if I could see clues and piece them together, when with the first novel it was more of a jolt of information here and there. In my opinion, this author is getting better and better.

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fresh from a six-month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends? but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters.

Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget?the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane?is among her father's houseguests? and he is not alone. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger, titled Italian count.

But the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel, and a member of Lady Julia's own family confesses to the crime. Certain of her cousin's innocence, Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again. When a sudden snowstorm blankets the abbey like a shroud, it falls to Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane to answer the shriek of murder most foul.

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