Anna Lee Huber’s third instalment in the Lady Darby Mystery Series, A Grave Matter, had me rolling; rolling with laughter, rolling my eyes, rolling over and screaming into the pillow. Many rolls were had while reading this and many rolls, particularly forehead ones, were made trying to remember what happens in this book.

Let’s start with the fact we open with a great big Scottish party to celebrate Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year. I would love to have been a guest to witness the sheer jubilance and wonders of the event and its traditions. Then we get into the crime, the mystery, and the beckoning of my beau, Sebastian Gage, to get the investigation well underway. His arrival had me laughing in this one – he always seems to know just what to say.

The layers to this puzzle had me in tangles for a few chapters, but I managed to wriggle myself free and sort things out in my mind. I always appreciate a mystery that has more complexities to it than the average crime and this delivered to a certain extent. There were a few details I couldn’t quite stack up or their motives weren’t truly believable which threw me off. I do appreciate the introduction of a seedy character we will be seeing more of in future books.

The relationship between Kiera and Sebastian has its highs and lows in this one, and there are several scenes where I did gasp. The ballroom scene, for starters – what a plot point! The workroom scene and the art studio with the painting were also very good. The ending was a little cheesy – I would much rather the other two had been elsewhere and it is just Kiera and Sebastian dancing because there being a subconscious little itch knowing Maggie and Anderley were there did ruin the mood a little.

The plot wasn’t bad, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to draw it up in my mind. I’m writing this along with several other reviews for these books but the significant points to talk about seem to be restricted to what little I’ve already written. It’s a shame because I supposedly gave this a quite high rating of 4.5/5 in my book journal but the little remarks I wrote don’t seem to spark any specific detail.

Reread notes: I understand what I mentioned previously, but as I reread the book with their relationship development at the forefront of my mind, I found it to be a great read in the sense it makes for a fantastic historical romance. Knowing how their relationship pans out in later books, I wanted to see how it all fell into place at this point, especially after the happenings of Mortal Arts.

I still strongly agree that there isn’t a lot that goes on in terms of the main plot. There doesn’t seem tobe a sense of justice brought to the sole death in the investigation, instead the good news is mainly for the relationship. The family thread is also a little slack in terms of tension – yes, there are a few moments of emotion, but no real compelling tension points to make us empathise with Kiera. Bonnie Brock is a character I am happy to see introduced in such a fashion, knowing what I do know about the future instalments of the Lady Darby mystery series.