Customer Reviews

The Lady Julia Grey Bundle (A Lady Julia Grey Novel)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
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THIS is why I love my Kindle...three great books for the price of one. After reading the reviews I thought the Julia Grey trilogy would be worth reading, and for $10 I was willing to gamble on the omnibus edition. It was a good bet.

The Julia Grey books are hybrid mystery-romances set in the Victorian period, best suited to readers who enjoy both genres. Mystery is the dominant element in each book, but the romance between Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane is the backbone to the trilogy. The slow, methodical development of the mysteries is nicely counterbalanced by the tempestuous relationship that develops between Julia and Brisbane. The writing is elegant and rich, and it was a real pleasure to immerse myself in it.

The omnibus contains all three books in the trilogy:

SILENT IN THE GRAVE - This introduces us to our heroine, Lady Julia Grey, and begins with her husband's murder. As the winning first line of the novel tells us: "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." Julia had been quiet, obedient, and dull all her life - the freedom of widowhood sparks a journey of self-discovery. When Julia realizes her husband was murdered, more than a year after he died, she is determined to find the killer - no matter how cold the trail. To succeed, she needs the help of Nicholas Brisbane, the private investigator her late husband hired before his death to investigate a series of ominous threats.

SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY - This second book takes place at the family seat in Sussex, a converted abbey in the dead of winter. The novel is richly atmospheric - a holiday party is trapped inside the fantastical gothic structure during a terrible snowstorm. One among them is murdered, and another must be the culprit. There are gypsies, ghosts roaming the stone-flagged halls, secret passages, impecunious relatives and a talking raven named Grim. But SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY turns these gothic cliches on their heads as Julia and Brisbane race against time to find the murderer before the snow melts.

SILENT IN THE MOORS - Like the second book, this one picks up - and transforms - a cliche: a dark, ominous, half-ruined estate in the northern moors of Yorkshire, capped by a rotting manor house, where dark family secrets fester. Brisbane has acquired the estate, and his letters back to London indicate that something is very wrong - although he won't say exactly what. Julia makes the journey north to investigate her relationship with Brisbane, and provide what help she can. She's soon caught up in a proper mystery, featuring a family of aristocrats ruined by pride and a pair of mummified corpses hidden in a monk's hole.

I devoured the trilogy. The atmosphere of each book is wonderfully distinct and Raybourn does a wonderful job setting the scene - it's full of rich period detail, and everyone has a story to tell. The whole cast of characters is magnificent, including every single member of Julia Grey's rather large family - she's one of ten children. Although I sometimes solved the whodunit a little early in the story, Raybourn usually isn't content with just one crime: there's usually a tangle of them, and always had to wait for the end to see every detail unraveled.

Brisbane is a dark, dangerous, mysterious sort of hero - easy to fall for, but terribly frustrating. Sexy as he is, at times I really wondered if he was worth the trouble. The romance is stretched out over all three volumes, and Julia and Brisbane's relationship is at least nominally professional - readers will be panting after the cracks in their professional facade. At the end of the day, I still wished Brisbane had been a little warmer - and I am usually a big fan of brusque, brooding heroes.

I started the trilogy expecting something along the lines of Dorothy Sayers, but the homage was really towards the Bronte sisters, Gothic mysteries, and maybe a dash of Sherlock Holmes. All in all, highly recommended.

Amazon recommended these books to me after I ordered book 1 of the Lady Emily series by Tasha Alexander. Didn't like the Alexander book but Loved...Loved....Loved this series and the kindle bundle was icing on the cake! Delicious
mystery, excellent writing kept me addicted til I could not put the book down. Since the earlier review went into such great detail, take both of our advice and read the series!

And after you finish this series, read the Sebastian St. Cyr series by C.S. Harris which I guarantee you will love. Currently five books with the sixth out March 2011.

It is wonderful to have all three stories bundled together and to see the story arc of Lady Julia Grey and Nicholas Brisbane. They are a great pair; they tend to surprise each other. The mysteries themselves take unexpected turns. A lovely series- (This is the first Kindle-book purchase I've made, as I already own the books in print, but these are books you'll want to re-read).

These were absolutely lovely, and a bargain: I am very glad I bought them, as if I had paid almost the same price for one, I would have had to buy all three simply to keep reading. Completely addicted to these characters. They are faceted, intriguing, and extremely human.
I wouldn't call this "romance." I'd call it historical mystery. Yes, there is romance, but it's a subplot, and really mostly serves to add conflict, and as an excuse for the characters to be in the right place at the right time.

people who will like this: If you enjoy Barron's Jane Austen mysteries, or Carole Nelson Douglas' Irene Adler series; if you like period mysteries with a strong and determined heroine who is also human...these books are for you. So glad I stumbled on them.

I've read so many poorly written "free" kindle books lately, I am also moved to add: The period was done impeccably, the language faultless. I would normally not applaud an author on that, as I take it as a given that if a person is an author they have done their research and know how to string a sentence together; however, a selection of absolutely screamingly bad novels lately has put things into perspective. This is a welcome relief. You'll find no grammatical messes or glaringly bad anachronistic phrases here.

I recently got into reading period mysteries with the Maisie Dobbs series. After finishing them, I read "Her Royal Spyness", which I found to be frivolous and shallow by comparison, so I figured I'd try the Lady Julia Grey bundle, based on the reviews. I was not disappointed. The stories are interesting, with some good plot twists. I wouldn't really call them romances, although they do have a romantic undercurrent, and the dark character of Nicholas Brisbane grows on you after awhile. Lady Julia is a bit too impetuous, but she is a good foil to Brisbane, and I enjoyed the setting of Victorian England. In all, the three books are a good value and very entertaining.

I admit I'm only halfway through book one Silent in The Grave, but am extremely impressed. I had loaded this bundle on my Kindle due to the many positive reviews by members of one of the Kindle forums I belong to without investigating it any further.
I got into the first 4 or 5 chapters, and began wondering, "Who is this author?" Was this some Victorian author I was unfamiliar with? She seemed so learned in the ways of Victorian life among the rich and titled. So I decided to check on her, and discovered to my amazement that she is a modern day author.
I'm usually not a romance novel reader (in fact I despise them), but this also had the premise of a good mystery, which I do love. This book is so rich with atmosphere that you feel like you're there among the denizens of London in the late 1800's, especially the upper crust of London society.
Deanna Raybourn has a gift! It's almost like she is a re-incarnation of a real Julia Grey. I applaud her work, and will read all the books in this series.

I could not put my Kindle down. Now I feel a bit like I have intellectually gorged on carnival treats. The mysteries are not very mysterious- the red herrings were a violent, pulsing scarlet and the villains were pretty easy to identify. On top of the predictability, Julia is irritatingly stupid a good deal of the time and Brisbane sometimes made me wish that Dr. Freud would magically turn up in the story and cure him of his textbook macho b.s. Why then did I spend an entire weekend in these books? I think it's because these are well researched books with real charm, not to mention a diabolical and addictive mixture of just the right mystery and romance tropes. Each book is perfectly paced to keep you hitting that "Next Page" button. You can't read just one. These books are my new guilty pleasure.

I came across this bundle and for the price decided to give it a try as I love the genre. The writing is quick witted and the author describes in wonderful details her characters. In fact, I can almost imagine already seeing many of the non-lead characters interwoven in future books! Julia Grey has truly grown throughout the series and is an engaging heroine and perfect match for Brisbane.

Terrific writing. Awesome characters. Great mystery. I loved these books! I am a picky, picky reader. I tend get bored part way through and have dozens of books I've never even finished. I read every word of these books!! The Lady Julia Books are must buys for me! Can't wait for the next.

The series appeals to me on a number of levels. Julia herself is a fantastic character and her growth throughout the novels is amazing. She's a dormant little mouse to start with, but as she discovers her true self, she begins to blossom. Her family -- she's one of nine siblings -- are all fantastic. I love reading about her siblings and how they just literally waltz into her life. The mysteries are engaging as well, though I do admit to largely skimming the third book because I was so eager to see what happened to Julia and Nicholas that I skipped ahead to their scenes. If there's anything that these books do lack is interaction between Julia and Nicholas at times. But, they do steal every scene they're in together. Knowing how these books end, I will definitely reread them to fully appreciate the journey.