A Stroke of Malice (A Lady Darby Mystery Book Eight) by Anna Lee Huber

Book Eight of the Lady Darby Series has the happy couple attending a Twelfth Night Event at the Duchess of Bowmont's Castle. The elite gathering, started earlier in the day with the heralding of Trumpets while each guest drew a role to play at the Event. The evening revelry soon descends into drunkenness and fissures appear beneath the jibing, prompting Lord Edward to do a ghost tour. The guests all are led into the basement with its damp, cold and rats. But the real terror lies in the catacombs under Kirkbryde Abbey and joined at the very far corner of the Castle by an opening in the stonework. Led deeper into the underground of gray stonework, and the ghost of a monk, the story takes a bizarre twist for the guests. Who is the new body placed there... that met such violence, for the the face has been chewed by Rats. Kiera, Lady Darby decides to help the family and pursue a murderer.

I had these books recommended to me by a friend, who devoured them. I can see why... Anna Lee Huber writes with a deft touch and very eerie overtones. Who could resist all the elements of the aristocracy during the 1830's?  The parties, costumes, love affairs and as an added spice- murder, start the book in the first four chapters. The tension builds as Lady Darby and her Husband Sebastian Gage track a murderer? This story has all the makings of the great Gothics of the 1970's. Who could resist unknown corpses, rats, underground catacombs, suspicious characters, and a tense build-up leading to the last page?

Blurb:

Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to celebrating with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but they soon learn that murder never takes a holiday in the latest riveting installment in this national bestselling series.

January 1832. After enjoying a delightful few weeks with her family, expectant mother Kiera and Sebastian Gage have been invited to the Duchess of Bowmontʼs Twelfth Night party in Traquair, Scotland. Though she normally avoids such fashionable, rambunctious events, Kiera is ready to join in the festive merrymaking. But upon their arrival at the opulent estate, it becomes obvious that all is not merry in their hostess’s home. The family appears to be under a great strain, and someone seems determined to cause mayhem among the guests with a series of forged notes.

Matters swiftly turn from irksome to downright deadly when the partygoers stumble upon a decomposing body in the castleʼs crypt. The corpse is thought to be the duchessʼs son-in-law who had purportedly traveled to Paris more than a month earlier. It is evident the man met with foul play, and Kiera and Gage soon realize that a ruthless murderer walks among them—and may well be a member of the duchessʼs own family. And when the investigation takes a treacherous turn, Kiera discovers just how deep the killer is willing to dig to keep their secrets from ever seeing the light of day.