A Deceptive Composition by Anna Lee Huber - Kiera and Gage urge Lord Gage to accept an invitation to see his extended family in Cornwall, but soon wonder if the visit was wise for any of them. The family has been estranged for many years, following a smuggling affair gone wrong when Lord Gage was a boy and resulting in his commission to the Royal Navy being purchased. Now he and his son and daughter-in-law are in Cornwall to get reacquainted with the family, and the occasion to bring them together was the death of the patriarch, Branok Roscarrock. Some in the family suspect that his death was not accidental, and certainly the Gages find plenty to be suspicious when they start asking questions, but all is not as it seems.
Everyone in the extended family appears to be hiding something, lying, or has some ulterior motive, and the stories and circumstances are not adding up. Soon Kiera and Gage are worried about their own safety and that of Lord Gage, and even contemplate abandoning the entire investigation since they sense they are in danger and the family is not cooperating. In fact, a question is raised about whether Branok is truly dead or not!
The investigation takes several unexpected turns, and Kiera and Gage are compelled to find answers about the murder, and about a rumored lost treasure before they become victims of foul play themselves.
This installment of the series has a lot of interesting tangles as it introduces the family from Lord Gage's mother's side. There are family members that are likeable and seem to be allies right from the start, and others that are cantankerous and unpredictable. Though they don't fight, Sebastian and Kiera aren't quite on the same page when it comes to their strategies for finding answers, and there are constant questions about who can be trusted and who might be lying and why. The mystery was complex and layered, and stretched their investigative abilities, and in my opinion, the reader's ability to keep track of the many possibilities.
From the publisher:
Lady Kiera Darby and her dashing husband, Sebastian Gage, hope they've finally found peace after a tumultuous summer, but long-buried family secrets soon threaten to unravel their lives . . .
October 1832. Kiera is enjoying the slower pace of the English countryside. She, Sebastian, and their infant daughter have accompanied her father-in-law, Lord Gage, home so that he can recuperate from the injuries he sustained in a foiled attempt on his life. But as the chill of autumn sweeps across the land, they receive a summons from an unexpected quarter. Lord Gage's estranged uncle―a member of the notorious Roscarrock family―has been murdered, and his family is desperate for answers. Despite Lord Gage's protests, Kiera and Sebastian press on to Cornwall to assist.
It isn't long before they discover that almost nothing is as it seems among the Roscarrocks, and they've been lured to their isolated cove under false pretenses. There are whispers of a lost treasure and frightening allusions to a series of murders stretching back decades that touch the lives of the family personally. Kiera and Sebastian are left with no choice but to uncover the truth before the secrets of the past threaten to destroy them all.
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, A Pretty Deceit, A Wicked Conceit, A Perilous Perspective, A Fatal Illusion, Sisters of Fortune
This is a book with an epigraph (#39) for The 52 Book Club's 2025 Reading Challenge.
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This post will be linked at the current BookWorms Monthly link-up hosted by At Home A Lot, and at the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2025 hosted by The Intrepid Reader and Baker.
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This sounds like an intriguing read. Cornwall seems to make a good setting for this sort of story.
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I like the sound of this book, it's my kind of story. I love Cornwall.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
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