Silent in the Sanctuary

Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn is a very entertaining Victorian murder mystery and is the second outing for her heroine Lady Julia Grey and the enigmatic Nicholas Brisbane. Lady Julia is recalled from Italy by her father the Earl March (I wonder what the Duke of Richmond's heir thinks of that?) to spend Christmas at the familly home Bellmont Abbey. One of the guests is Julian Snow the local Curate, who appears to live well above his income, and Nicholas Brisbane accompanied by a widow who he introduces as his fiancee. One of the guests is murdered in the chapel, another makes an hysterical confession of guilt and claims sanctuary (hence the title) and yet another turns out to be a professional jewel thief. Mis Raybourn's narrative is very entertaining but the book cover description of "wickedly witty" is going it a bit. The ending was rather spoiled for me when Lady Julia takes a priceless set of pearls given to her by her late husband and gives them to a gypsy. As one does!!! Surely if she did not want the pearls they should have been returned to the Grey familly where they had been kept for generations or perhaps to one of her sisters. I do not know why writers feel compelled to make their leading characters indulge in quite ridiculous acts of altruistic generosity. It does not happen in real life and often spoils the atmosphere of the book which it has taken the writer hundreds of pages to establish.