{"id":9556,"date":"2018-01-04T19:26:19","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T00:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=9556"},"modified":"2026-04-01T22:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:07:36","slug":"as-death-draws-near-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9556","title":{"rendered":"As Death Draws Near"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Death Draws Near<\/a><\/em> (2016) Anna Lee Huber<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in Ireland in 1831<\/p>\n

Kiera and Sebastian are on their honeymoon when Gage receives a letter from his father, ordering him to Ireland.<\/p>\n

(A) nun at the Loretto Abbey there, has gotten herself murdered. The matter is of some importance to His Grace, the Duke of Wellington, seeing as the chit is his distant cousin. We cannot allow the murder of his relative, foolish and disgraceful papist though she may be, to go unchecked.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the journey Lord Marsdale, a rake who attaches himself to them, claiming he wants to escape an angry father. Unfortunately, there is no way to get rid of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, come now,\u201d he wheedled. \u201cI\u2019m quite capable of behaving myself when the situation warrants it. In fact, I\u2019ve been very well mannered this entire carriage ride. You know I have.\u201d I rolled my eyes heavenward. He sounded like nothing so much as a little boy trying to persuade us he deserved a special treat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I actually came to like Marsdale in this story. He’s still kind of a jerk, but he very obviously cared for Harriet, and may be a rake, but clearly isn’t a complete cad.<\/p>\n

We also slowly learn more about Bree, the young woman who became Kiera’s maid. She’s another character I very much like, and I appreciate that they two of them are still working out the kinks in their relationships–something that was always going to be complicated, despite Kiera’s habit of familiarity with her servants.<\/p>\n

I was well aware that I had always been a bit too familiar with servants, too concerned with their opinions, but it was a difficult habit to break, especially when I did not care to do so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the murder is the center of the story, the Irish conflict takes a very large part in this story. <\/p>\n

I\u2019d seen the old cottages and mud daub homes of the lower classes of Irish society, a large majority of which were Catholic. They didn\u2019t appear to have an abundance of extra income, nor did I believe they were burying it and saving it for a rainy day, or the moment they finally kicked the English off their island. <\/p>\n

How could these men not see it? How could they not hear how ridiculous they sounded? They were wealthy Anglicans, part of the small majority controlling the island. Most of these men protesting the tithes were poor Catholic farmers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No matter how much things change, they still remain the same. People have been fighting over religion for as long as history, and will create discord and disagreement where none should truly exist.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it was difficult to accept the terrible lengths people would go to for their beliefs, particularly when they fooled themselves into thinking they were acting in the Lord\u2019s name or for the public\u2019s good when they were truly reacting out of hatred and fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mystery is interesting, and the history is well-researched, which I deeply appreciate.<\/p>\n

In the end, we are only responsible for ourselves, no matter how much we might wish otherwise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an enjoyable series, and now I’m all caught up until the next book comes out.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Death Draws Near (2016) Anna Lee Huber Set in Ireland in 1831 Kiera and Sebastian are on their honeymoon when Gage receives a letter from his father, ordering him to Ireland. (A) nun at the Loretto Abbey there, has gotten herself murdered. The matter is of some importance to His Grace, the Duke of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,30,48,33,8],"tags":[114,729,115,560],"class_list":["post-9556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-female","category-historical","category-mystery","tag-anna-lee-huber","tag-industrial-revolution","tag-lady-darby","tag-romantic-era"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2u8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5968,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5968","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":0},"title":"As Death Draws Near","author":"Michelle","date":"July 14, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"As-Death-Draws-Near","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/As-Death-Draws-Near.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11222,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11222","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":1},"title":"Treacherous Is the Night","author":"Michelle","date":"November 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Treacherous Is the Night (2018) Anna Lee Huber Set in Europe in 1919. The second Verity Kent story finds Verity and her husband trying to come to terms with each other--and decide if their marriage will survive his letting her think he was dead for more than a year. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Treacherous-Is-the-Night.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13556,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13556","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":2},"title":"Secrets in the Mist","author":"Michelle","date":"November 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Secrets in the Mist (2016) Anna Lee Huber (Gothic Myths) Set in England in 1812. Ella Winterton has been struggling since her brother died. Her mother's death troubled her father, but after her brother died fighting France, her father descended into alcoholism--an open secret that Ella can't admit even to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Secrets in the Mist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Secrets-in-the-Mist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5873,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5873","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":3},"title":"A Pressing Engagement","author":"Michelle","date":"May 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pressing Engagement (2016) Anna Lee Huber Set in Edinburgh, Scotland in April 1831 This short story is Lady Darby's wedding to Sebastian Gage. Except it isn't really a short story, as much as it would truly be an excerpt from either the end of the previous book or the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"a_pressing_engagement","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/a_pressing_engagement.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9546,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9546","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":4},"title":"A Pressing Engagement","author":"Michelle","date":"January 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A Pressing Engagement (2016) Anna Lee Huber Set in Scotland in 1831 This is a short story, but you should think of it as an outtake from the novels, rather than a stand-alone story you could pick up to read if you are unfamiliar with the characters or want to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/a_pressing_engagement-e1511012727623.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5683,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5683","url_meta":{"origin":9556,"position":5},"title":"A Study in Death","author":"Michelle","date":"February 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A Study in Death (2015) Anna Lee Huber When Lady Drummond dies in front of Lady Darby, Kiera immediately believes the death not due to be apoplexy, but to poison. Unfortunately, Lord Drummond all but throws Lady Darby out, and so she cannot--even with the help of Gage--openly investigate the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A-Study-in-Death","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/A-Study-in-Death.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}