But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle’s master, Count Andrei Dragulescu. She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians, replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager the troubled steward her own fearful friend, Cosmina. She is bound for Rumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence. With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh and a disappointed suitor far behind. Ī husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all. For Bellmont’s sake and more they’ll face myriad dangers born of dark secrets, the kind men kill to keep. Shocked to find their investigation spun into salacious newspaper headlines, bristling at the tension it causes between them, the Brisbanes find they must unite or fall. From this eerie enclave unfolds a lurid tangle of dark deeds, whose tendrils crush reputations and throttle trust. 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. ‘Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be Silent in the Grave.’
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