Mortal Arts

On their way to Edinburgh Lady Kiera Darby, her sister and brother-in-law are asked to stop off at Dalmay Castle by Lord Cromarty's aunt. There, Kiera discovers that William, Lord Dalmay, is not as she had always understood missing, presumed dead, but had spent the last decade in a mental institution, forced there by his father, the previous Lord Dalmay because of (frankly) his PTSD about his time fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Kiera is also surprised to see Sebastian Gage staying with the Dalmays, the two of them have barely spoken since they became so close during their investigation of Lady Godwin's murder. Everyone is concerned that Lord Dalmay is dangerously insane, his former doctor has spread stories about him murdering a young woman in the asylum, however Kiera has such fond memories of William teaching her painting when she was just fifteen years old that she can't believe he has changed. After all, William was badly affected by his experiences back then but nothing led her to think he would be violent. Then a local gentlewoman goes missing, at first thought drowned, but everyone is worried that William may have escaped his guards and done her some harm. Desperate to clear William's name, Kiera and Sebastian once again join reluctant forces to solve a mystery. Oh dear, Sebastian Gage is doing the push-me, pull-me thing with Kiera (apologies if I spell her name wrong, I know someone called Keira and I find it very difficult to change the order of the E and I for these reviews) that I so disliked in the Verity Kent books. I can only speculate that he is engaged/promised to someone else or his Daddy doesn't like Kiera. Also, and I know the book is set in a time when men routinely had the right to treat women like children, I really found Gage's condescending attitude to Kiera grating. Also, I am sorry to say that I found the premise of this book wholly predictable and obvious from the start, I know that I have either read or seen something very similar (was it a Buffy episode?) so I found the obliviousness of Kiera and Gage plain irritating.

Good read.