Recent Reads - A Stroke of Malice

This post contains affiliate links - using affiliate links from Just A Second helps supply books and coffee. 

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber - Kiera and Sebastian Gage are spending part of their holidays at Sunlaws Castle, along with Kiera's siblings and many fashionable members of society. Their hostess, the Duchess of Bowmont, has been one of Kiera's supporters so despite being well along in her pregnancy and not fond of social events, Kiera does her best to enjoy the festivities. However, during the costume ball that opens the event, one of the Duchess's sons leads guests on a tour of the castle's crypts, and a decomposing body is discovered. Once again, Kiera and Gage find themselves taking charge of an investigation because of the obvious signs of foul play.

The body must first be identified, and this task is complicated by difficulty of travel and a cholera outbreak nearby. Even though the body appears to be that of the Duchess's son-in-law, the family members are not all cooperative, and they seem to have secrets to keep that impede the investigation. Kiera's own advancing pregnancy limits her ability, and then a suspicious accident puts Kiera in danger, and raises the stakes.

In this particular mystery, the list of possible suspects is narrowed down early, and the questions lie more in who is hiding information and why. The identification of the body is almost as big a conundrum as figuring out why the person was killed and by whom. Plenty of family drama and secrets of the past combine to provide frustration and unexpected twists for Kiera and Sebastian as they pursue the truth.

By the same author: The Anatomist's Wife, Mortal Arts; A Grave Matter, A Study in Death, A Pressing Engagement, This Side of Murder, As Death Draws Near, A Brush With Shadows, Treacherous Is The Night, An Artless Demise, Secrets in the Mist, Penny for Your Secrets, A Stroke of Malice (from my first reading in 2020), A Pretty Deceit

This book features an unlikely detective (#22) for The 52 Book Club's 2022 Reading Challenge

#the52bookclub2022

©2008-2022 Just A Second. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://justasecondblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.