Review of Dark and Dawn by Suzannah Rowntree (Miss Dark’s Apparitions 4)

Blurb

Spectres, smugglers…and the heist of a lifetime in colonial Hong Kong!

Thief she may be, but Molly Dark has rules: she only ever steals to benefit others—never herself.

This time Molly only wants answers about the death of her father and the worrying persistence of his ghost—answers which almost certainly lie with his former business partner, Sir Humphrey Seton. Yet from the moment Miss Dark arrives on the doorstep of Sir Humphrey’s towering Hong Kong mansion, she can’t help sensing something rotten in the stifling summer air.

Why are there so many barred windows and locked doors at Seton Castle?

Why has Lady Seton made a sudden descent into madness?

And why is the castle infested with such a catastrophic number of ghosts?

It’s just possible the answer has something to do with Molly’s own missing inheritance…but she won’t find out, not unless she’s willing to break a few of her own rules.

Not unless she’s willing to steal for herself.

And not unless she’s ready to trust her crew…including the ex-vampire who stole her heart.

Miss Dark and her rag-tag crew venture to the Far East in this whimsical gaslamp fantasy heist, in which Leverage meets The Parasol Protectorate! Join Miss Dark’s expedition to Hong Kong’s haunted colonial mansions

My Review

Following the hint from her mother’s letter, Molly and her crew are in Hong Kong to investigate none other than Sir Humphrey. Molly is clearly reluctant since she cannot see her old mentor as anything but a good man, but her crew are not so easily persuaded.

They have timed their arrival to coincide with Griff’s departure, Molly’s one time fiance, the American prosthete whose enhancements make it impossible for them to use their transmitters despite Nijam’s best efforts.

In Sir Humphrey’s house, Molly is met with a hostile housekeeper, secretive servants and Sir Humphrey who doesn’t seem like the same person he was before. Added to the strange ghosts that she sees, and the even stranger ones that follow Lady Seton around, Molly has to wonder if Sir Humphrey is indeed a villain.

I love the character growth both Molly and Vasily has to undergo in this as also the fact that Molly is finally facing some of her own issues that had held her back. The rest of her crew are as supportive as ever, and Nijam and Alphonse still haven’t sorted out their differences, mainly because of Alphonse’s refusal to face his past.

The book kept me gripped throughout, and off I am to read the last book, except it’s midnight, so I don’t want to start it just yet.

If you love historical fantasy, mysteries, characters who are both morally grey and evolving, and an enthralling plot, you will love this book!

You can get the book here!