Once again, the biggest and best character in the book is the mood and setting. I frequently ask myself if Deanna Raybourn lays awake at night dreaming up haunting, amazing places to set her story and THEN comes up with a story outline. Her descriptions of the moors made me feel as though I was right there, pulling a wool scarf around myself to stave off the winds.

This was the first time I was able to figure out the mystery before the characters did, but it's because the story started reminding me of something I've read before (view spoiler)[ The Fall of the House of Usher (hide spoiler)]. It gave me the opportunity to see how the mystery was unfolded from a story-telling point of view. It's harder to do than you would think. How do you decide which piece of the mystery to reveal here, which piece to reveal there? I think it was very well done. There are several haunting images that were left in my mind (view spoiler)[ the doll house, the locks of hair, the dramatic suicide (hide spoiler)]. And, of course, being an Interior Designer I ate up every description of the home. A delightful little addition to this story was the inclusion of Egyptian artifacts. A true Victorian home was a hodge-podge of items collected from all over the world, and Egyptian themes were especially en vogue. I love it when authors have done their research correctly. This book was an excellent example of how it's done.

I think, in a way, this was also the most romantic book in the series. The ending left me swooning for days. In fact, I had to go get the next book right away because I couldn't stand it, I just had to keep reading about what happens between Julia and Brisbane. Out of all three books thus far, this is probably the one I am most likely to reread.