Part of Lady Darby Mysteries
First published 2015
Scotland, 1831. Lady Kiera Darby is sitting for a portrait commission when she notices something wrong in Lady Drummond's eyes. The baroness is frightened, and her husband is the reason. Kiera knows that look. Her own late husband left the same marks on her, and the memory is not distant. When she finds Lady Drummond collapsed on the floor and beyond help, the physician and Lord Drummond move quickly to call it a natural death. Kiera does not believe them. She has painted enough faces to read what people try to hide, and she is certain poison was involved. Her fiancé Sebastian Gage is her partner in these matters, but this time the stakes feel personal. Kiera has survived a brutal marriage once. She will not let another woman's death go unanswered. Armed with her knowledge of anatomy and her refusal to be dismissed, she pushes into a household that wants the truth buried. The fourth book in Anna Lee Huber's Lady Darby series, A Study in Death is set against the backdrop of Edinburgh society, where a woman asking the wrong questions puts herself directly in danger.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, adult-fiction, detective, mystery-thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, gritty, introspective, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-detective, partners-in-crime-solving, second-chance, strong-female-lead
Setting: Scotland, Edinburgh
Period: 1831, 19th century
323 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, murder