As Death Draws Near

As Death Draws Near (2016) Anna Lee Huber

Set in England and Ireland in 1831

Lady Kiera Darby and Sebastian Gage are honeymooning in Keswick when he receives orders from his father to go to Ireland to investigate the death of a nun, who happened to have been the niece of Wellington.

They decided to go, not especially because Gage was ordered to do so, but because in the end, a woman was dead, and they were best positioned to discover who murdered her.

Now that she has willingly engaged in another murder inquiry, Lady Darby (she keeps her courtesy title because she married down) she wonders about whether what she does is right.

“I said it is part of who I am, but is that true? Is it who I am? I didn’t want to learn all of these things about anatomy. My first husband forced it on me. And yet, I cannot deny how helpful it has been at times with our inquiries. But I still feel guilty for using what I know.”

“Perhaps it was forced on you, but it has certainly been used for good. ‘But as for you,’” she began to quote from the Bible. “‘ Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.’”
…
“The Lord calls us to simply trust and seek. He will show us the way. But when that way is shown, we are not allowed to say, ‘Enough! Let me settle.’ We must go even where we think it is impossible, do those things that we think we are incapable of. For the Lord will make it possible; He will make us capable.”

Her eyes gleamed softly. “You may be called to a home and husband, but that does not mean He doesn’t also have more for you to do. The Lord does not say, ‘Go this far, only this far, and no further.’ He does not only call men to do His good work.

I liked that not just for the kindness the Mother Superior gives her, but for the thought that Lady Darby put into it, because she would have doubted what she was doing, and found it difficult to reconcile with her upbringing.

“In the end, we are only responsible for ourselves, no matter how much we might wish otherwise.”

Also, the mystery was very good, going places that I didn’t expect, but that were also completely consistent within the story and the time.

I really enjoyed this, and look forward to the next book.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Berkley

• Browse the archives:
  
• To Charm a Naughty Countess » »
• « « A Gift for Guile