A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber ISBN-13: 9780451491381 Paperback: 384 pages Publisher: Berkley Released: April 7th 2020

Source: review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Scotland 1832. After enjoying a delightful holiday with her family, Lady Kiera Darby is looking forward to finishing her new friend, the Duchess of Bowmont's portrait, as well as attending the duchess' annual Twelfth Night party. Though she normally avoids such fashionable events, Kiera trusts the attention will not be focused on her, but rather her notorious hostess and her family. But upon their arrival at the opulent Scottish estate, Kiera and her husband and fellow investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, swiftly deduce that someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

However, matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the merrymakers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castle's crypt. This corpse is certainly no laughing matter, especially when they suspect it's the duchess' son-in-law, the Earl of Helmsdale, who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage step in to investigate, at the duchess' insistence. Kiera and Gage must swiftly reexamine the facts, for a ruthless murderer walks among them and may well be a member of the duchess' own family.


My Review:
A Stroke of Malice is a mystery set in 1832 in Scotland. It is the eighth book in a series. The author referred back to events in the previous books, but it can be read as a standalone.

Much of the story was spent trying to identify the dead body. Kiera and Gage asked questions which revealed a number of people with motives to murder the Earl of Helmsdale, but they eventually learned that some other people were missing, too. I guessed the critical secret and the identity of the dead man long before Kiera and Gage did. In fact, some of their reasoning seemed deliberately dense in order to draw out the story. The author also spent a lot of time describing the rooms, furniture, and such even though it played no role in the mystery. Basically, it wasn't a very difficult mystery to solve in the end, though it took a while for them to accumulate enough clues for the reader to guess whodunit.

The historical details were mainly about the Twelfth Night party. I found it odd that Kiera was sometimes described as barely showing her pregnancy and as heavy with child at other times. There were no sex scenes or bad language, though there was some intense kissing between Gage and Kiera. Overall, I'd recommend this historical mystery to fans of the series, but it might not be the best book to start with.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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