When you form a relationship with a writer's work, picking up that writer's book becomes a kind of home-coming experience. Even if the book is a brand new and unfamiliar one, you can still enjoy the anticipation of coming back to your favorite's writing, storytelling style and - if it is a series - the characters you have come to love from the prior works.

Being an enthusiastic "serial reader" myself, I revel in the sense of returning. This was very much the case with Azimov's "Foundation" series and Clarke's "Rama" series, the delicious "Harry Potter" books by J. K. Rowling and even Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series (until the author got lost in his own plot lines and couldn't find the way out).

So, it was with no small pleasure that I finally got around to reading the second in Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series "Silent in the Sanctuary". The feeling was further enhanced by the fact that the book itself also began with a home-coming of Lady Julia and her brothers (with a few new characters in tow) to the March family seat - the Bellmont Abbey.

From then on, it is Deanna Raybourn doing what she does best: making you laugh one moment, frown in puzzlement the next and cringe two minutes later. She is precisely the kind of author, with whom you need never worry about being disappointed - it just cannot happen. After the edge-of-your-seat page-turner that was Silent in the Grave, one might think that there are really only so many riddles and plot twists one author can come up with to keep the reader interested. Well, apparently this author has a secret portal into a riddle and plot twist universe, because I personally don't see her running out of them any time soon.

The complex multi-layered plot is garnished with all the favorites Deanna Raybourn supplied so generously in the first book: fantastic environment (Thornfield Hall would have been so proud!); incredible food (I think each book should come with a recipe Appendix); gorgeous clothes; the cleverly-hidden nods to other works of literature (read the March family train station scene and then the similar departure scene from Jerome K. Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat" side-by-side - you'll laugh twice as hard at them both); and - of course - the characters that, while honoring the great traditions of romantic literature, remain nonetheless fresh and fascinating: the likable villains, the crazy-yet-sharp old ladies, the annoying I-know-something-but-I-won't-tell guests - all of them swirling in a mad vortex around Lady Julia herself and - of course - the incomparable Mr. Brisbane.

A word of caution: if you are hoping to get a breather with this book, think again. The closer you get to the end, and the more questions are being answered, the more new mysteries pop up. So, if you are anything like me, expect to stay up till midnight devouring the last 100-150 pages. Not that you will notice the time, mind you - you will be far too busy enjoying yourself in the company of Deanna Raybourn and her characters.