Very Mixed Feelings about The Anatomist's Wife.

THE ANATOMIST'S WIFE (A Lady Darby Mystery #1)
Anna Lee Huber
Berkley Trade Books
January 2012

It is Scotland in 1830 and Kiera, Lady Darby, has taken refuge at her sister's estate.  She is reviled by Society and even threatened with criminal prosecution for her illustrations accompanying the manuscript for her husband's anatomy book. The infamous Burke and Hare body-snatching case was in the recent past so there was hysteria about the possibility of another outrage. Since Sir Anthony Darby has recently died, she faces Society's fury alone.  What Society does not know is that Sir Anthony married her only for her artistic talents and forced her to do the illustrations. Only her family remains steadfast in their support.

After sixteen months in Scotland her sister and brother-in-law venture to host a house party. Kiera knows that she will be the object of derision and scorn, but hopes to keep a low profile. When a house guest is murdered she knows that she will be the logical suspect among the harpies at the house party. Her only hope is to help another of the house guests investigate the murder in the roughly three days before the prosecutor arrives at the estate. Sebastian Gage is a sought out member of Society and has some experience as a private inquiry agent. Despite her initial dislike of Gage, she and he forge an uneasy alliance. That alliance is sorely tested before the murderer is unmasked.

I initially gave 4 stars to The Anatomist's Wife because I thought the mystery very well done. I did not figure it out on my own at any rate.  While I don't have to particularly like the characters in a book I really need to understand their motivations. Kiera was by turns passive and aggressive about her plight, then clever and/or stupidly impulsive. I never knew what sort of dangerously ill-considered action she might take next. She was a moderately successful portraitist before her marriage so I find her passive consent to an arranged marriage hard to understand. It was difficult for a woman of her station to avoid marriage, but it could be done. The fact that she was content to let her father make such an important decision for her was incomprehensible to me.

There have been many comparisons of The Anatomist's Wife to the Lady Julia Gray mysteries. I don't see it, even though their situations as widows involved with inquiry agents are similar. Lady Julia has a backbone of steel and a will to match; and Sebastian Gage is no Brisbane! The fact that The Anatomist's Wife lingered in my head after I finished gives me hope for the next book in the series, Mortal Arts, which I will certainly read.

RATING- 3 Stars