Book Review: Dark Road To Darjeeling

Author: Deanna Raybourn
Title: Dark Road To Darjeeling
Publisher: Mira
Publish Date: Oct 1, 2010
Rating: 5 Stars
Book Blurb: 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.

Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling is the fourth Lady Julia Grey mystery and like the others, its characters grab hold of you from the start.

Julia and Nicholas are far from your typical married couple. Julia is very unconventional, and is still hell bend on working with her husband as an investigator. This time they are trying to help Portia's friend (lover) Jane Cavendish, who had abandoned her previously in favor of a husband and family.

The cast of characters in India is even more unique than in the previous novels. The Cavendish family is certainly odd with maiden aunts, twins born on the wrong side of the blanket, doctor's with a taste for drink and opium, not to mention the neighbors, Cassandra Pennyfeather, her husband the Reverend, and her two children, Primrose and Robin.

To say that this family was unconventional is an understatement, and any parts of the book with them involved are sure to get the readers attention.

Readers who have been following the series will also remember Emma and Lucy from Silent In The Sanctuary. They're back in this one only Emma is dying of breast cancer now. And there's the White Rajah who is a little more than he seems.

The thing that makes Deanna's Lady Julia books more than a little worth reading is how well she keeps the "whodunit" a secret. It is pretty impossible to guess who killed Jane Cavendish's husband Freddie. Everyone had a motive!

This makes for a real page turner!

And the ending? You won't believe any of it.  This series just gets better and better. Readers won't be able to wait for the next installment!!!

~ ebook provided by Net Galley and Harlequin