Reviews

Not a bad follow-up to the debut novel but there were a few faults that I couldn’t ignore. First, the culprit was easily deduced and the “mystery” was really not that much of a mystery as it turned out. Kiera started to get annoying to me with her constant negativity about herself where it was just irritating and parts where it made no sense with her character.

And lastly, can we please get Ms. Huber a better editor? I found SO MANY grammatical mistakes in this book that it was just embarrassing. This is not an independently published book so I have no idea why the editing is just so bad. Sentences such as “Gage and me” is not grammatically correct nor is expressions such as “no worries” customarily common phrases for 1830 English society. Really? Ms. Huber’s editor didn’t catch that? 🙄 The story is good but the poor editing is just plain distracting.

medicinewoman's review against another edition

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5.0

Mortal Arts Mortal Arts has been on my list of highly anticipated releases ever since I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, The Anatomist's Wife. I am not disappointed! Mrs. Huber delivers another well developed mystery with a beautifully crafted romantic element. Kiera is a fascinating heroine and astute narrator, surrounded by an equally wonderful support cast in a well researched historical setting.The plot follows Kiera and Gage in their attempt to help Kiera's former art tutor, who suffers from battle fatigue and the subsequent horrors of 19th century psychiatric care. Add a missing girl, a secret agenda, quite a bit of despair and doubt, several (unexpected) villains and heartbreaking personal demons and you're in for a treat.As an amateur art student who recently finished a course on 'Art and War' I especially loved the (oblique) references to the artwork by Francisco Goya.I read a lot of historical mysteries and sleuth series and most of them are an enjoyable read, but nothing exceptional. The Lady Darby Mystery series, however, is one of the few excellent series out there, on par with Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia series and C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr series. If you love those, you will certainly love Lady Darby.

tumbleweed_run's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sarah_moynihan's review against another edition

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4.0

The Mortal Arts is the second book in the Lady Darby series, which takes place in a different setting than the first. Now we follow Lady Darby to the estate of a childhood friend. A local girl has gone missing in the area and rumors and accusations abound. Contrary to popular belief, the current Lord Dalmay is alive and in residence on the estate. After having been secretly locked into an asylum by his father for the last seven years, William Dalmay is home and suffering under battle fatigue and the lingering ill effects from the treatment he recieved while in the asylum. The easy answer to the mystery of the missing girl is to throw the blame on William. However not everyone is so willing to accept that he could be capable of harming this young woman and question how he even could have escape supervision long enough to do her any harm. One of these people being Lady Darby, who is conviced of his innocence and determined to prove that the man she knew would never have hurt somone. Alongside her again to investigate is none other than Mr. Sebastian Gage himself. Their relationship undergoes some challenges and some developments and once more, Lady Darby is put into the line of danger. Darby suffers a traffic loss and must now learn to move forward through her loss, which brings us to our next book and adventure.
Such a good mystery, I would recommend this book and the entire series to anyone who is a fan of a good historical mystery.
I also must say that I really loved Huber's beautiful note at the start of the book to all past and present soldiers that have suffered through the tragedies and hardships that come with war and even after returning home. It was really poetic and heartfelt.

noll's review against another edition

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3.0

Spoiler

Me, the entire time I'm reading Mortal Arts: Man I hope Will doesn't die. But I read the summary for the third book before I started reading this one and I'm pretty sure Will's gonna die. I really hope Will doesn't die at the end.
Will, at the end of the book: *dies*

I still really liked this book. I think I really got way more emotionally invested in it than I was with The Anatomist's Wife. Will was such a beloved and important person to Keira so he quickly became the same for me, and I truly wanted things to work out for him.

I never want to see Miss Remmington or Paxton in another book ever again.

Keira and Gage had some really good, healthy development, which was thrilling but also I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. It would be nice to find out what he and Phillip were arguing about in the beginning, if it was just relevant to her involvement with the Dalmay problems or if there were other things discussed.

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