≫ Libro Gratis Silent in the Grave Deanna Raybourn 9780778324102 Books

Silent in the Grave Deanna Raybourn 9780778324102 Books

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Silent in the Grave Deanna Raybourn 9780778324102 Books

This review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (thebakingbookworm[dot]blogspot[dot]ca)

First Line: "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."

My Thoughts: I typically quote the first line of the book just for fun. This time I added the second line as well because I think that these are awesome opening lines and really sets the humourous tone of the book!

This book is set during the time of Queen Victoria's reign (lots of corsets and societal rules) but isn't a stuffy read at all. It is filled with a delicious sense of humour that is dry and, at times, self-deprecating ... my favourite kind! I giggled out loud in several parts and re-read many passages just because I wanted to giggle again at Raybourn's wonderful choice of words.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a silly mystery book. Quite the opposite, actually. It's much more of an intelligent read than I was expecting. It is cleverly written with many references to the culture of the time, Greek mythology and books. These references really add to the feel of the book. I love the fact that Raybourn doesn't 'dumb down' her book and assumes that her audience is intelligent to follow along or, in my case, look up items/words that are a little foreign to them!

This book also had a wonderfully refreshing vocabulary. Bravo to Ms. Raybourn for getting me to look up words. With my iPhone in hand (and it's trusty dictionary app) I had to look up several words that were new to me (look at me learn'in!). From "epicene" (feminine, unmanly) to saturnine (sluggish, gloomy, taciturn), reticule (small purse or bag) and majordomo (man in charge of a great household; a chief steward) I learned many new words.

As for the mystery/suspense part of the book? It was very well done. I do admit that half way through it did get a bit dodgy and slowed down a little too much. Raybourn it seems can get a little too verbose when describing type of lace on some curtains or how a dress hangs on a lady which, to me, isn't all that riveting. But she quickly picked up the pace and had me at the edge of my seat.

There are LOTS of twists and turns in this book. I was constantly re-evaluating whom I thought could have killed Edward when Raybourn throws a totally different set of possibilities to the reader and changes everything.

The March family is a quirky set of characters who strive to be different from the stuffy confines that society typically puts on the idle rich. From her forward thinking father, to the "Ghoulish" cousin who overstays her welcome at the homes of family members who have lost loved ones, to her numerous brothers and sisters the secondary characters are quite varied and really add to the storyline.

Lady Julia is a spirited and impetuous young woman who has enough spunk to get herself into some trouble but not enough to be annoying. She is a very likeable character and I look forward to seeing how her relationship with Bribane continues. I also like the fact that Raybourn didn't rush this (I assume) budding romance. She didn't plop them into bed at the first opportunity but is biding her time and building more intrigue around this couple.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars


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Silent in the Grave Deanna Raybourn 9780778324102 Books Reviews

Having just read both And Only to Deceive, by Tasha Alexander, and Silent in the Grave, by Deanna Raybourn, I wanted to compare the two, as they both begin with two newly-minted widows impatient with living in mourning and eventually deciding to investigate their late husbands' legacies. Lady Emily is the protagonist from And Only to Deceive, and Lady Julia is the protagonist from Silent in the Grave, but AOD contains many ancient Greek allusions, and its protagonist is also known as Kallista, so I'll call her that for the sake of clarity here.

Raybourn and Alexander's novels possess many similarities. Both authors do a fine job of evoking the social conventions and atmosphere of Victorian England. Neither one describes the setting so well that one suspects either is a literature or history professor, but both authors are gifted enough with description that the reader is able to feel comfortable in the time and place. Both main characters weren't particularly attached to their husbands, although interestingly enough one woman comes to dramatically despise certain aspects of her husband's character by the end of the novel, while the other woman comes to actually fall in love with her dead husband by the end of her story. One husband turns out to be a significantly more honorable human being than the other. Both widows, however, turn out to be rather similar. Both women aren't particularly thrilled about mourning husbands that they didn't particularly love, and both widows are wealthy and seek slightly more independence through choices of either friends, new clothes and hairstyles, etc.

As far as differences in plot and character change go, after the death of her husband, Kallista goes to the British Museum and discovers a newfound interest for ancient Greek art and literature. She cultivates this passion and accordingly makes scholarly friends, but her love interest, Colin Hargreaves, is always in the background running mysterious errands. Colin is an upper-class neighbor of hers who was her husband's best friend. Meanwhile, Lady Julia is contacted by the dashing but unpredictable Nicholas Brisbane and informed that her husband's death was murder. Lady Julia subsequently visits Brisbane several times in his rooms and endures several different interrogations. Both husbands, in the end, are (surprise!) found to have been murdered.

I found Kallista to be a more interesting character than Lady Julia, probably because I love most things to do with the ancient Greek world, and I liked how the Greek art and literature plot unfolded in Kallista's story. I thought that Brisbane was definitely a more interesting character than Hargreaves, however it would seem that Alexander's female protagonist was more interesting than the love interest in her story, and Raybourn's male love interest was more interesting than her protagonist, at least in this first novel in the series.

What would Keats and Aristotle say? Both these novels were fun. I think the pace was a little better in AOD, but that novel also had a gaggle of anachronistic-sounding girlfriends that surrounded the protagonist as well, so there are points both for and against that novel's superiority. I liked how both authors genuinely attempted to show how both widows felt badly that they didn't mourn their husbands more, and that both women were able to become more themselves once their husbands were gone. Neither novel really seemed to contain magnificent greatness of either content or execution, but both were enjoyable and worth reading. If you're looking for a female protagonist in a series with more authentic period detail and somewhat better writing, as well as more humor but less depth, I'd suggest the Amelia Peabody series. That series, however, is set in Victorian British Egypt, not England.
This review, as well as many more, can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm (thebakingbookworm[dot]blogspot[dot]ca)

First Line "To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband's dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor."

My Thoughts I typically quote the first line of the book just for fun. This time I added the second line as well because I think that these are awesome opening lines and really sets the humourous tone of the book!

This book is set during the time of Queen Victoria's reign (lots of corsets and societal rules) but isn't a stuffy read at all. It is filled with a delicious sense of humour that is dry and, at times, self-deprecating ... my favourite kind! I giggled out loud in several parts and re-read many passages just because I wanted to giggle again at Raybourn's wonderful choice of words.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't a silly mystery book. Quite the opposite, actually. It's much more of an intelligent read than I was expecting. It is cleverly written with many references to the culture of the time, Greek mythology and books. These references really add to the feel of the book. I love the fact that Raybourn doesn't 'dumb down' her book and assumes that her audience is intelligent to follow along or, in my case, look up items/words that are a little foreign to them!

This book also had a wonderfully refreshing vocabulary. Bravo to Ms. Raybourn for getting me to look up words. With my iPhone in hand (and it's trusty dictionary app) I had to look up several words that were new to me (look at me learn'in!). From "epicene" (feminine, unmanly) to saturnine (sluggish, gloomy, taciturn), reticule (small purse or bag) and majordomo (man in charge of a great household; a chief steward) I learned many new words.

As for the mystery/suspense part of the book? It was very well done. I do admit that half way through it did get a bit dodgy and slowed down a little too much. Raybourn it seems can get a little too verbose when describing type of lace on some curtains or how a dress hangs on a lady which, to me, isn't all that riveting. But she quickly picked up the pace and had me at the edge of my seat.

There are LOTS of twists and turns in this book. I was constantly re-evaluating whom I thought could have killed Edward when Raybourn throws a totally different set of possibilities to the reader and changes everything.

The March family is a quirky set of characters who strive to be different from the stuffy confines that society typically puts on the idle rich. From her forward thinking father, to the "Ghoulish" cousin who overstays her welcome at the homes of family members who have lost loved ones, to her numerous brothers and sisters the secondary characters are quite varied and really add to the storyline.

Lady Julia is a spirited and impetuous young woman who has enough spunk to get herself into some trouble but not enough to be annoying. She is a very likeable character and I look forward to seeing how her relationship with Bribane continues. I also like the fact that Raybourn didn't rush this (I assume) budding romance. She didn't plop them into bed at the first opportunity but is biding her time and building more intrigue around this couple.

My Rating 4.5/5 stars