A review by sarah_moynihan
Mortal Arts by Anna Lee Huber

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.