Dark Road to Darjeeling

Set in 1889, Raybourn’s sharp, surprising fourth Lady Julia Grey novel (after Silent on the Moor) finds Julia thoroughly enjoying her honeymoon with her detective husband, Nicholas Brisbane, in the Himalayas, where her brother, Plum, and sister, Portia, show up unexpectedly with startling news. Portia’s former lover, Jane Cavendish, is convinced that her husband, Freddie, has been murdered in India. Brisbane, who reluctantly joins his wife and her siblings in their search for Freddie’s killer, gets quickly drawn into a web of intrigue that’s long on suspects and short on evidence. The mystery deepens as Grey and Brisbane explore India’s colonial tensions and realize that everyone has a motive for murder. Raybourn skillfully balances humor and earnest, deadly drama, creating well-drawn characters and a rich setting. New readers may want to go back and start with the series debut, Silent in the Grave, which won an Agatha Award. (Oct.)