First Sentence: I tore open the letter and scanned
it quickly before brandishing it at my husband.
Lady Julia and her
husband, Brisbane, hoped for a quiet Christmas. However, spending the
holidays at her father’s estate with her eccentric family, a myriad of pets
and, possibly, a ghost end that thought very quickly.
The full-length books in
this series are quite enjoyable, although I’ll admit the first three are the
best. This, however, just didn’t come up to par.
Yes, the characters are
fun. Julia is delightful and matched by her sister, Portia and Portia’s odorous
Pug. And then there’s Brisbane; that man all women would desire.
The dialogue is
charming…”Don’t be cryptic, Plum. You haven’t the cheekbones for
it.” There is a story about Shakespeare that will make fans of the Bard
gasp in horror.
However, the story tried
to be too much, and none of it worked well. The mystery was treated almost
as an aside. The relationship between Julia and Banbridge lacked any
depth and became somewhat twee. And, most annoying, several references
were made to previous cases which were rather offputting, even if one has read
other books in the series.
“Silent Night” was an
acceptable bit of fluff which would probably be enjoyed by true fans of the series, but there are much better Christmas novellas available.
SILENT NIGHT: A LADY JULIA CHRISTMAS NOVELLA (Hist
Mys-Lady Julia – London, 1889) – Okay
Raybourn, Deanna –
Christmas Short Story
MIRA – November, 2012
(Amazon Digital Services)
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