silent in the sanctuary by deanna raybourn

It leads to the exclusive Ghost Club, where the alluring Madame S raphine holds evening’s ances and not a few powerful gentlemen in thrall. Not about to be left out of anything concerning her beloved if eccentric family, spirited Julia soon picks up the trail of the investigation. Among the more unlikely clients: Julia’s very proper brother, Lord Bellmont, who swears Brisbane to secrecy about his case.

But merging their respective collections of gadgets, pets and servants leaves little room for the harried newlyweds themselves, let alone Brisbane’s private enquiry business. Partners now in marriage and in trade, Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane have finally returned from abroad to set up housekeeping in London. Dismissing his warnings that the investigation will be difficult, if not impossible, Julia presses forward, following a trail of clues that lead her to even more unpleasant truths, and ever closer to a killer who waits expectantly for her arrival. It is a reaction she comes to regret when she discovers the damning paper for herself, and realizes the truth.ĭetermined to bring her husband’s murderer to justice, Julia engages the enigmatic Brisbane to help her investigate Edward’s demise. Prepared to accept that Edward’s death was due to a longstanding physical infirmity, Julia is outraged when Brisbane visits and suggests that Sir Edward has been murdered.

Before he can show them to Nicholas Brisbane, the private inquiry agent he has retained for his protection, Sir Edward collapses and dies at his London home, in the presence of his wife, Julia, and a roomful of dinner guests. These ominous words, slashed from the pages of a book of Psalms, are the last threat that the darling of London society, Sir Edward Grey, receives from his killer. When a sudden snowstorm blankets the abbey like a shroud, it falls to Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane to answer the shriek of murder most foul.‘Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be Silent in the Grave.’ Certain of her cousin's innocence, Lady Julia resumes her unlikely and deliciously intriguing partnership with Nicholas Brisbane, setting out to unravel a tangle of deceit before the killer can strike again. Not to be outdone, Julia shows him that two can play at flirtation and promptly introduces him to her devoted, younger Italian count.īut the homecoming celebrations quickly take a ghastly turn when one of the guests is found brutally murdered in the chapel, and a member of Lady Julia's own family confesses to the crime.

Much to her surprise, the one man she had hoped to forget – the enigmatic and compelling Nicholas Brisbane – is among her father's houseguests. Fresh from a six–month sojourn in Italy, Lady Julia returns home to Sussex to find her father's estate crowded with family and friends but dark deeds are afoot at the deconsecrated abbey, and a murderer roams the ancient cloisters.

Silent in the sanctuary by deanna raybourn