Ad – review. I was sent a copy of this book for review purposes and all thoughts are my own.
Today I'm excited to be involved in the book tour for Death in the sound by Rhen Garland which is her second book in the Versipellis mysterious series. I was involved in the book tour for her first in the series Portrait of Death which you can find here.
The year is 1900, responding to a desperate plea from an old friend, Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne, accompanied by Veronique the Labrador, travel from England to New Zealand to unravel a new and complex mystery.
For his daughter’s twenty first birthday, Millionaire philanthropist Octavius Damant orchestrates a weekend party aboard the Taniwha, a luxurious paddle steamer moored in the primordial and isolated landscape of Milford Sound.
Several high society guests are invited to their remote home for the celebrations; Sir Wesley Eade, society lawyer and his beautiful but icy mistress Lady Leonora Carlton-Cayce, Dona Carla Riva, a flamboyant Brazilian dancer, and Carolyn Nolloth, O.D’s estranged sister-in-law who has a great love of other people’s money.
But O.D is the subject of persecution; a series of anonymous letters accuse him of past crimes and threaten the life of his daughter unless he gives in to their creator’s poisonous demands. Elliott, Giselle, and Thorne discover the odds stacked against them when an unforeseen murder is committed, and they find themselves trapped aboard the Taniwha with a killer who will seemingly stop at nothing to achieve their ends.
As the body count rises, they must unravel the clues and piece together a devilish jigsaw that includes blackmail, extortion, desire, and the reappearance of the fabulous Larkspur Diamond, a gemstone with a past as murky and blood soaked as that of the relentless killer on board.
Set in the late Victorian era, with a touch of the odd, and a twist of the macabre, “Death in the Sound” continues the crime solving, paranormal escapades of Elliott Caine, Giselle Du’Lac, and Abernathy Thorne.
I found this a bit more of a slow starter compared to A Portrait Of Death which I read last year. However once I got into it I was hooked. I have to say out of the two A Portrait Of Death was my favourite but Rhen still keeps us guessing with her twisty and gripping passages. I love that some of the characters in the previous book were still in this one and I'm excited and hope that book 3 will happen. Honestly with the ending of this one she can't stop there really.
