Dark Road to Darjeeling (Lady Julia Grey) [Paperback]

Deanna Raybourn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2010 | Series: Lady Julia Grey

After eight idyllic months in the Mediterranean, Lady Julia Grey and her detective husband are ready to put their investigative talents to work once more. At the urging of Julia's eccentric family, they hurry to India to aid an old friend, the newly widowed Jane Cavendish. Living on the Cavendish tea plantation with the remnants of her husband's family, Jane is consumed with the impending birth of her child—and with discovering the truth about her husband's death. Was he murdered for his estate? And if he was, could Jane and her unborn child be next?

Amid the lush foothills of the Himalayas, dark deeds are buried and malicious thoughts flourish. The Brisbanes uncover secrets and scandal, illicit affairs and twisted legacies. In this remote and exotic place, exploration is perilous and discovery, deadly. The danger is palpable and, if they are not careful, Julia and Nicholas will not live to celebrate their first anniversary.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 1889, Raybourn's sharp, surprising fourth Lady Julia Grey novel (after Silent on the Moor) finds Julia thoroughly enjoying her honeymoon with her detective husband, Nicholas Brisbane, in the Himalayas, where her brother, Plum, and sister, Portia, show up unexpectedly with startling news. Portia's former lover, Jane Cavendish, is convinced that her husband, Freddie, has been murdered in India. Brisbane, who reluctantly joins his wife and her siblings in their search for Freddie's killer, gets quickly drawn into a web of intrigue that's long on suspects and short on evidence. The mystery deepens as Grey and Brisbane explore India's colonial tensions and realize that everyone has a motive for murder. Raybourn skillfully balances humor and earnest, deadly drama, creating well-drawn characters and a rich setting. New readers may want to go back and start with the series debut, Silent in the Grave, which won an Agatha Award.
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From Booklist

The fourth Lady Julia Grey mystery (following Silent on the Moor, 2009) finds Julia happily married to handsome, brooding detective Nicholas Brisbane. Their honeymoon is interrupted by her sister Portia and brother Plum, who want Julia and her new husband to come to India, where Portia’s former lover, Jane Cavendish, is living on the tea plantation her recently deceased husband, Freddie, inherited. Freddie died under mysterious circumstances, and Jane suspects he may have been murdered for his inheritance. Jane is pregnant, and she fears her child will be in danger if it proves to be a boy. Despite her husband’s objections, Julia decides to investigate Freddie’s murder, getting to know the potential suspects, including Freddie’s spinster aunt, his cousin Harry, several neighbors, and a mysterious man known as the White Rajah. As Julia closes in on the killer, she uncovers more than a few family secrets. Raybourn expertly evokes late-nineteenth-century colonial India in this rollicking good read, distinguished by its delightful lady detective and her colorful family. --Kristine Huntley

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Original edition (October 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778328201
• ISBN-13: 978-0778328209
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A sixth-generation native Texan, New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn grew up in San Antonio, where she met her college sweetheart. She married him on her graduation day and went on to teach high school English and history. During summer vacation at the age of twenty-three, she wrote her first novel. After three years as a teacher, Deanna left education to have a baby and pursue writing full-time. Fourteen years and many, many rejections after her first novel, she signed two three-book deals with MIRA Books.

"Sex, lies and awesome clothing descriptions" is how one reader described Deanna's debut novel, Silent in the Grave, published in January 2007. The first in the Silent series, the book follows Lady Julia Grey as she investigates the mysterious death of her husband with the help of the enigmatic private inquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane. From the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to a Gypsy camp on Hampstead Heath, Silent in the Grave deftly captures the lush ambience of Victorian London.

The series continues with the second book, Silent in the Sanctuary (January 2008), a classic English country house murder mystery with a few twists and turns for Brisbane and Lady Julia along the way. Silent on the Moor (March 2009), set in a grim manor house on the Yorkshire moors, is the third adventure for Lady Julia and the mysterious Brisbane.

March 2010 saw a departure from the series with the release of The Dead Travel Fast, a mid-Victorian Gothic thriller that chronicles the adventures of novelist Theodora Lestrange as she leaves the safety and security of her Edinburgh home for the dark woods and haunted castles of Transylvania. Deanna turned once more to Lady Julia and her companions with Dark Road to Darjeeling (October 2010). With an exotic setting in the foothills of the Himalayas and the introduction of an arch-villain, Dark Road to Darjeeling is the most thrilling installment yet. The fifth book in the series, The Dark Enquiry, sees the return of Lady Julia and Brisbane to London for their most puzzling adventure and will be available in stores in June 2011.

Deanna plots her books from her home in Virginia. After one too many hot Texas summers, Deanna and her husband packed up their daughter and moved to the mid-Atlantic state, where they enjoy the fall leaves but deeply miss good Tex-Mex cooking.

Still Virginia has been good to this author. Deanna's novel Silent in the Grave won the 2008 RITA® Award for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements and the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best First Mystery. The Lady Julia Grey series has been nominated for several other awards, including an Agatha, a Daphne du Maurier, a Last Laugh, two more RITAs, and two Dilys Winns. Her latest novel, Dark Road to Darjeeling, was a finalist for the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Historical Mystery and has also been nominated for a RITA.

You can find her blogging five days a week at www.deannaraybourn.com/blog, and be sure to sign up for her newsletter, check out her contests and book trailer videos, and catch her latest appearances at www.deannaraybourn.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taking the Dark Road..., September 23, 2010

By 

vshow "vshow" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Road to Darjeeling (Lady Julia Grey) (Paperback)

If you are a fan of historical mysteries and you haven't read the first three books in Deanna Raybourn's amazing Lady Julia Grey series then I would suggest that you do so immediately. This is a fantastic series featuring excellent writing, wonderful characters, exacting period detail, and sharp as a tack dialogue.

The first three books in the series found Julia and Nicholas meeting over the body of her first husband, bonding over adventures involving her family and his and finally realizing that they are meant to be. The newest book was bound to be a challenge for it would be the first to feature the couple as husband and wife. These are two incredibly strong-willed people and I wondered if DR would be able to find a way to allow them to make all of the compromises a newly married couple must make and still retain their individuality. I needn't have worried, because in DR's masterful hands Julia and Nicholas manage to navigate their way through the rocky waters of their new marriage and emerge not only stronger as a couple, but also with their individual character intact.

The book opens with Julia's siblings Plum and Portia tracking the newlywed Brisbanes down while they are on their honeymoon. Portia requests their assistance in the matter of her ex-partner Jane. Jane is recently widowed and expecting a child. She is living on her husband's tea plantation in India and Portia is concerned about her safety, as well as her state of mind. The group travels to India, where they set about figuring out if there was indeed foul play involved in Jane's husband's death. Initially, I bemoaned the fact that this book was going to be set in India since England is my favorite setting for historical mysteries, but I soon changed my tune. The setting was perfect. The exotic locale pulled Nicholas and Julia out of their normal comfort zone and, in my opinion, placed them on a more even playing field. As they begin investigating the strange occurrences around the plantation, they both are forced to deal with people and places terribly unfamiliar to them. It was interesting to watch their different investigative styles emerge as they struggle with their individual desire to be the one to solve the mystery versus their obvious strength when they work as a team. The plot was well-developed and the ending was a bit of a shocker. Although I started to suspect the truth about 3/4ths of the way through, I wasn't sure that DR would go in that direction, but I thought it provided a solid twist.

The most satisfying aspect of the book for me was watching Nicholas and Julia figure out how to be husband and wife. It was clear that the idea of melding their lives was causing both some real angst. I was pleased to see that they continued to treat each other with the respect and affection that they have always shared. The romance lover in me was thrilled to find that the intimacy of the marital bed had not dampened the heated attraction between the two. When Nicholas and Julia married at the end of the last book, I was alternately excited and concerned. I was so happy that they were together finally, but wondered if DR would be able to keep their relationship interesting. After reading Dark Road to Darjeeling, I feel nothing but optimistic that this relationship will continue to develop and grow in all kinds of intriguing ways. While I have loved all three of the previous books in the series, I have to say that Dark Road to Darjeeling was pretty nearly flawless. I came away from it anticipating all of the amazing adventures that the future holds for these two characters as well as the rest of the eccentric March clan. Kudos Ms. Raybourn! Keep 'em coming...

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Harbinger: This series just gets better, October 1, 2010

By 

Hollybally - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dark Road to Darjeeling (Lady Julia Grey) (Paperback)

Like many mid-series books, I had both giddy, unrestrained expectations and somewhat hesitant reservations for Dark Road to Darjeeling. If the Lady Julia Gray series had been a trilogy, it was perfect in my eyes, especially the conclusion of Silent on the Moor. Really, I couldn't have asked for more. That said I was still very ecstatic about the prospect of another book with the darkly intriguing Brisbane and charmingly obstinate Julia, but it was hard not to think for just a second that the streak for near perfection would be tainted somehow. This reservation was compounded by the fact that this was a transitional book for these two. I was a tad afraid that their relationship wouldn't have that same spark that made the first three books so special.

Again, as many of the most beloved books do, I'm left speechless, and Dark Road to Darjeeling is just one of those stumpers. Where the mystery twists and turns may have become routine or Julia and Brisbane's relationship could've lost its distinctive tug-of-war, it didn't. The suspects were myriad and the motives complex. The change in location to totally unfamiliar territory - India - evidently proved inspiring rather than stifling. Along with Julia, I was alternately enchanted and frightened by the lush location and fooled as to the true identities and motives of those around her. Brisbane is as dashing, mysterious, and at times as frustrating as ever. The real stand out is their amazingly organic professional and personal relationship. They push and pull at one another and yet complement each other very well. I love watching them argue and care. It's a given that I've already reread my favorite passages, many of which include only Julia and Brisbane. I also continue to be touched and entertained by the March family, especially Portia. It was a treat, too, to have light shed on their brother Plum. As you can guess, Julia isn't always quick-witted enough to divert disaster or self-sabotage. She is the everyman's detective and you can't help but love her in her fallible, amateur ways. After all we'd all like to think of ourselves as having dormant, secret abilities. If you are a fan at all of Victorian era historical fiction, mystery, and a little romance please pick up this series already, you won't be disappointed. Dark Road to Darjeeling is one of the best written Lady Julia books yet.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story, annoying heroine!, November 8, 2010

By 

Dragon Lady "Claire" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dark Road to Darjeeling (Lady Julia Grey) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This is the 4th book in the Lady Julia Grey series. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 novels, my feelings about this one are mixed.

After Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane marry in the previous book (SILENT ON THE MOOR), they spend the better part of a year on their Mediterranean wedding trip, finally rushing to India to aid a close family friend whose husband has died under questionable circumstances, their first mystery to solve as a married couple.

The setting at a tea plantation in the Himalayan foothills is described beautifully. The characters are all fascinating, and the mystery to be solved is a really tough one. However, Lady Julia does not come across very well this time out. I can't believe the author intended her heroine to be this irritating! Lady Julia imagines herself equal to her husband Nicholas Brisbane's sleuthing skills and manages to make his job that much harder as he has to constantly save her from herself. Julia's ridiculous over-confidence and childish need to compete with her husband is truly annoying. As appealing as she was in the three previous novels, that's how unappealing she is in this novel. I can only hope the author will endow Lady Julia with a lot more common sense in the next book.