A review by mjwerts
Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

4.0

Dark Road to Darjeeling represents a new chapter in the life of Lady Julia Brisbane, née Grey. She has become the woman she wants to be, but now must figure out how to be that person in partnership with her new husband, Nicholas Brisbane. This novel finds the newlyweds in a remote valley of India, investigating the death of Freddie Cavendish, the unexpected husband of Jane, the longtime lover of Lady Julia's sister, Portia. As expected in this series, the mystery is twisty with plenty of suspects and surprises, while the characters are quite delicious. As the name implies, the book is a bit darker in tone than the previous "silent" trilogy, with Lady Julia and Brisbane a bit sharper and softer around the edges simultaneously, which is a delicate balancing act. It makes the characters both more relatable and more irksome, but their foibles also are what makes them immensely enjoyable.