Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    An Artless Demise
    An Artless Demise
    An Artless Demise
    Audiobook11 hours

    An Artless Demise

    Written by Anna Lee Huber

    Narrated by Heather Wilds

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby's return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hare-killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera's past-a past she thought she'd finally made peace with-rises up to haunt her.

    All of London is horrified by the evidence that "burkers" are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife's edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband's involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.

    Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man's family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateApr 2, 2019
    ISBN9781977332967
    An Artless Demise
    Author

    Anna Lee Huber

    Anna Lee Huber is the Daphne award–winning author of the national bestselling Lady Darby Mysteries and the Verity Kent Mysteries. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in music and minored in psychology. She currently resides with her family and is hard at work on her next novel.

    More audiobooks from Anna Lee Huber

    Related to An Artless Demise

    Titles in the series (11)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own

      Apr 5, 2022

      Dawn Neesom Mind Of My Own
      4 min read

    • Article

      Happy And Glorious

      Jun 1, 2022

      ICAN’T remember when I last used my 12 Fabergé after-dinner coffee cups. Americans call these little cups ‘demitasse’, which is about as bi-lingual as we get. Mine come in five colours and I treasure them, although I’ve reached the age where my guest

      4 min read

    • Article

      Roger's PROFANISAURUS

      Nov 19, 2020

      Roger's PROFANISAURUS
      8 min read

    • Article

      LeTtER BOCKs

      Feb 2, 2023

      LeTtER BOCKs
      11 min read

    • Article

      LeTtER BOCKs

      Feb 2, 2023

      LeTtER BOCKs
      11 min read

    • Article

      Wartime Memories

      Nov 11, 2022

      Due to my fondness for storytelling and recording everything that ever happened to me, my family and the world, I doubt I shall ever be that golden oldie who sits with a wide-eyed younger generation at my feet telling tales of yore whilst they gasp i

      3 min read

    • Article

      Grace Period

      Jun 9, 2022

      Grace Period
      9 min read

    • Article

      Bird’s Words

      Sep 26, 2022

      I listened to the funeral on the radio in my garden. As I sat I pictured the route, knowing every corner, every old building from my decades of working, drinking, loitering, even sleeping rough within its crevices and crevasses. I much preferred the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Mrs Simpson Learns A Lesson

      Jul 29, 2021

      Mrs Simpson Learns A Lesson
      4 min read

    • Article

      Giving Lincolnshire Its Due

      Jun 29, 2022

      MAY we play a word-association game? I say ‘Lincolnshire’ and you reply... Yes, you might struggle to find anything to say about the ancient shire of that name. Perhaps ‘cathedral’ and ‘cabbages’ will float up through the mist of memory. I doubt many

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Ashes

      Sep 9, 2022

      It’s almost 50 years since my wife Roz and I moved aboard our first serious cruising boat. While paying off our overdraft, we lived in a mud berth on a rickety pier attached to what was then Moody’s yard at the top of the Hamble River. It was univers

      5 min read

    • Article

      My Irish question

      Aug 21, 2022

      My Irish question
      11 min read

    • Article

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS

      Aug 5, 2021

      profanisaurus@viz.co.uk aroma diffuser 1. n. A scientific device that breaks “essential oils” down into smaller molecules, dispersing them into the air for a pleasant or calming effect on the gullible. 2. n. The arsehole. Barbie’s minge sim. Somethin

      8 min read

    • Article

      Wales, Land Of My Fathers

      Feb 8, 2023

      Wales, Land Of My Fathers
      5 min read

    • Article

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS

      Jun 22, 2023

      Roger’s PROFANISAURUS
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tom Cunliffe

      Nov 6, 2020

      Tom Cunliffe
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tom Cunliffe

      Nov 6, 2020

      Tom Cunliffe
      5 min read

    • Article

      Life Is But A Dream

      Aug 26, 2020

      Life Is But A Dream
      4 min read

    • Article

      A New Beginning

      May 27, 2021

      THE JOURNEYING MOON Shortly after the war I married and tried to settle down to a life in London. Like most of my generation, though, I was infected by restlessness. Early in our lives we had been given a taste for the world of action, and too much a

      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for An Artless Demise

    4.5/5

    93 ratings10 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Another great book! Great characters and plot. Narrator is wonderful!
    • 5/5
      In this seventh case in the Lady Darby mysteries, Gage and Keira are in London. London is quite unsettled. The Reform Bill which would readjust districts for the House of Commons and give votes to more men has failed twice. When a body is discovered at one of the medical schools and is clearly a victim of murder, fears that have only just subsided after the Burke and Hare case are reignited. It also brings Keira's past back into the foreground. She's the widow of a noted anatomist who forced her to draw his dissections. But when he died of an apoplexy, a jealous rival painted Keira as complicit in her husband's work and his hiring of ressurectionists to supply the bodies he dissected. Keira's reputation was ruined and she is only just rebuilding her reputation. Gage and his valet Anderley become deeply involved in trying to identify the most recent victim of these "burkers." It is pretty clear that the victim is one of the Italian Boys - a group of young men who are beggars in London and other large English cities. In the course of trying to identify the young man, it becomes clear that there are many missing persons in London. Men, women and children have been disappearing for quite a while. This raises the public's fears that they are disappearing to provide cadavers for the medical schools. Things come quite a bit closer to home when Keira and Gage discover the body of Lord Feckenham, the heir of one of their recent hosts. Gage is hired to find out who killed him. In the course of their investigation, it becomes clear that the list of possible murders is quite large. Feckenham was a brute, a bully, and a complete reprobate. His parents even have to keep his sisters out of his orbit. His brother Penrose looks like a good suspect except for his alibi. Penrose is a much better person than his brother and was his brother's victim on many occasions. He also has secrets to protect. The investigation gets more complicated when a second victim is found. David Newbury is also from the upper class. His sister is being courted by Keira's brother. He is also completely different than Lord Feckenham. He's honorable, pleasant and charitable. Keira and Gage spend a lot of time trying to find some connection between the two men. Their investigation is interrupted when Keira receives a blackmail threat which says that the blackmailers will indicate to the newspapers that she was deeply involved with the resurrectionists along with her first husband. Keira is frightened that this lie will hurt the ones the she loves including her new husband and her unborn baby. Adding to the threat is news that the man who inherited her first husband's papers is getting ready to publish them which will expose the years of abuse she suffered and make it so that the scandal will never die down. This was an excellent addition to this well-written and intriguing historical mystery series. I liked watching the relationship between Gage and Keira grow. I liked the way Keira is growing too and becoming more assertive when she faces Society. The mystery was interesting and had a number of red herrings taking the reader and Keira and Gage off on tangents before the true murderer was found. I love the way the details of the time period were woven into, and essential to, the plot of this story.
    • 5/5
      In this series, Lady Darby has tried, unsuccessfully, to put her sordid past behind her but it had always followed her regardless. Although, after her last successful investigation and the recent marriage to her partner, Sebastian Gage, she had started to be grudgingly accepted by her peers. Never one to be a fool, Kiera knew that not everyone was pleased about her new circumstances, but she was willing to put up with some cold stares and whispered slights because overall that was better than what she had previously experienced. Unfortunately, when a recent case of body snatching brought Kiera’s mortifying past back into the limelight, both Kiera and Gage knew that they were going to have to figure out who was behind the crimes before the situation escalated to one of no return for Kiera.There was much to love while reading An Artless Demise! I really felt for Kiera’s character as her past came back to haunt her. It was most distressing to see her once again affected by a past that was in no way her fault but forced upon her by the shackles of her prior marriage to a monster. There was some true growth for Kiera as she navigated the backbiters and people who would love to see her brought low, which was lovely to see. In this book, she had to truly come to terms with her past in order to be able to look to her future and it was very heartwarming to meet her friends, both old and new, who were there to support her during this most distressing time. There was also quite the mystery behind the death’s that were whipping all of London into an uproar! It was the type of tale with twists and turns that will fully engage your imagination as the clues lead from one possibility to another. Overall, An Artless Demise was a thoroughly engaging read and left me excited about reading another installment in the Lady Darby Mystery series!This review is based on a complimentary book I received from Penguin Random House. It is an honest and voluntary review. The complimentary receipt of it in no way affected my review or rating.
    • 4/5
      "I thoroughly enjoy this series, and I enjoyed this one too, but I think it might be the one I liked least. Anyone who has read the earlier books in the series will readily agree that Lady Darby has had an unarguably difficult and painful past.  Her first husband, a famous anatomist, forced her to attend his human dissections to draw the illustrations required for his planned masterwork on the human anatomy.  When her part was revealed upon his death, she was vilified and run out of London. Now she's back, in love, married, and pregnant, and her timing is awful; burkers have been caught attempting to sell the body of a dead boy to anatomists, and it's obvious he did not meet his end naturally.  Then the nobs start getting killed in the streets of Mayfair and everyone is looking at Lady Darby again. It's a great story, but unfortunately, Kiera's wallowing just a bit.  Not as much as your average historical heroine cliche, but more than what I'd expect from this strong and talented character.  Call it a justifiable response to the equivalent of PTSD, but she became a victim, and it was a bit disappointing, given all the adventures she's had.  Usually, this wouldn't be as big of a stand out as it is this time, but the murderer was obvious to me from the start, so I had nothing to distract me from Kiera's sudden-onset mousiness.  She gets her mojo back in the end, so that's something. In spite of my nit-picking, it was still an enjoyable read overall, and I look forward to the next one."
    • 4/5
      I was perhaps a bit less invested in this mystery, but with each book I'm a bit more invested in the characters, so overall still 4 stars.
    • 4/5
      This is yet another delightful and thoroughly engrossing installment in the Lady Darby mystery series. Author Anna Lee Huber writes with elegance and a strong understanding of human social interaction. Her characters feed off the emotions of one other, whether it be passion, pride, arrogance, insecurity, fear, or unbridled joy - truly a dramatic read. Huber's grasp of the historic record is spot on. She skillfully and deftly weaves the fictional accounts through the given historic record. Her writing is atmospheric and quite painterly as one is wrapped in an early London fog or summoned to the sumptuous and palatial residence of a duke or lord. I admire Huber's ability to weave the historic headlines of grave robberies (known as "burking"), human trafficking, and snatched children from the streets with the murders of three members of the ton. It's one big pretzel of a mystery and as the clues fall into place the tension is heightened and the action accelerated. Among the most charming aspects of this series is the maturing relationship between investigators Sebastian Gage and Kiera, his lovely wife (formerly Lady Darby). As they await the arrival of their precious child, his care and protection of her is fierce and their love does not falter. (Would that all husband's were this caring and loving.) There is so much more to this story but to share it would give too much away. Though the book can stand on its own, I would recommend reading the series in order. This particular book draws heavily on the story of book one (The Anatomist's Wife). It's definitely a lovely read for those who enjoy historical mysteries as much as I. Synopsis (from publisher's website):Lady Darby returns to London with her new husband, Sebastian Gage, but newlywed bliss won’t last for long when her past comes back to haunt her in the latest exciting installment in this national bestselling series.November 1831. After fleeing London in infamy more than two years prior, Lady Kiera Darby’s return to the city is anything but mundane, though not for the reasons she expected. A gang of body snatchers is arrested on suspicion of imitating the notorious misdeeds of Edinburgh criminals, Burke and Hare–killing people from the streets and selling their bodies to medical schools. Then Kiera’s past–a past she thought she’d finally made peace with–rises up to haunt her.All of London is horrified by the evidence that “burkers” are, indeed, at work in their city. The terrified populace hovers on a knife’s edge, ready to take their enmity out on any likely suspect. And when Kiera receives a letter of blackmail, threatening to divulge details about her late anatomist husband’s involvement with the body snatchers and wrongfully implicate her, she begins to apprehend just how precarious her situation is. Not only for herself, but also her new husband and investigative partner, Sebastian Gage, and their unborn child.Meanwhile, the young scion of a noble family has been found murdered a block from his home, and the man’s family wants Kiera and Gage to investigate. Is it a failed attempt by the London burkers, having left the body behind, or the crime of someone much closer to home? Someone who stalks the privileged, using the uproar over the burkers to cover his own dark deeds?
    • 4/5
      There's a lot going on in this book. First born sons of peerage are being murdered, body snatchers are running around killing, and "Italian boys" are being used for criminal activity or being murdered for anatomy experiments, and work houses are being discussed and replaced with orphanages in Parliament. Three dead heirs to dukedoms to investigate, Kiera being shunned by society as the body snatcher crimes are being reported in the papers are the cases that the Gages are investigating.
    • 5/5
      Raw emotion and gripping mystery!I found myself absolutely immersed in this unforgiving historical murder mystery set in 1831 London.The public anxiety about resurrectionists, a spate of lordly murders, "the life of Italian Boys, the Reform Bill, and the Anatomy Bill, " all part of the historical record, form the background for this Lady Darby mystery with Kiera and her husband Sebastian Gage.What is not part of the historical record is Kiera's dread and fight to survive censure from the ton with all that is happening. Her fears are so real that they jump off the page with dread. The past once more intrudes upon the present and she rages against it, “and so it begins again...The old accusations. The frightened glances and furious snubs...Will the past never leave me be?”"Burkers" were named after Burke and Hare, two resurrectionists from Edinborough who'd smothered their victims and sold their bodies to the local anatomy schools. "They had killed sixteen people before being caught." With this latest rampage the London public is up in arms and mob mentality is being reflected in the tonnish ball rooms. A pregnant Kiera is the one being targeted.The death of three of their own gives the ton the excuse to drag up what they see as Kiera's past iniquities. Never mind the fact that as the former wife of the once great, now infamous anatomist Sir Anthony Darby, Kiera had been threatened and forced to draw the bodies he'd procured from resurrectionists.Meanwhile Kiera is being blackmailed by unknown persons, a publisher is about to print Darby's private journals, and she and Gage have been asked to bring their skills to bear on deaths of three Lords apparently by resurrectionists and other burker deaths, including an Italian boy.Another raw and gripping mystery that Kiera and Gage find themselves reluctantly thrust into. The murderer must be found. Along the way both Kiera and Gage have to relive and in Gage's case learn more about, the emotional and physical abuse done to Kiera by her former dead spouse, and the resultant fears for Kiera's personal safety are revisted.A Berkley Publishing Group ARC via NetGalley
    • 5/5
      This well-crafted book is a wonderful blend of mystery and history and a romance between one of my favorite couples. The series just keeps getting better and better with each new addition to it. While this is the seventh book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone. However, I highly recommend that you read the series in order – from the beginning – in order to learn more of Kiera’s history and see how far she’s come and to watch the romance between Kiera and Gage blossom.This book was so suspenseful that my heart was in my throat the whole time I was reading – and yet I couldn’t put it down. There is murder, resurrectionists, blackmail, social unrest and – well – a tad of fatigue and queasiness while dealing with the early days of pregnancy. As with all of the Lady Darby books, there are multiple things happening for Kiera and Gage to unravel. The ‘things’ in this book are only loosely related and each would be a good mystery on its own – but when you put all of them in one book – well – WOW!Kiera fled London a little over two years ago thanks to her first husband’s perfidy. Everyone thought Kiera was as guilty as her husband – just by association. After Kiera’s formal charges were dismissed, her brother and brother-in-law just barely managed to get her out of London before the incensed mobs attacked her. Now, she and Gage have returned for a visit and what raises its ugly head again? Resurrectionists! Everybody in society looks at Kiera and wonders – even outright accuses – her of being involved with them. Then, a body turns up in Mayfair – the heir to one of England’s oldest and most venerable titles. The murder was committed in a manner reminiscent of the resurrectionist murders that happened in Edinburgh a few years earlier. Then a second and third murder committed in the same manner.In the midst of the murder investigations and trying to assist with the resurrectionists trial, someone is blackmailing Kiera. The blackmailers are threatening to go to the papers and accuse Kiera of helping them and her husband. Kiera can’t let that happen because it wouldn’t be just her that it would ruin – Gage, Kiera’s sister, brother, brother-in-law, and unborn child would also suffer.When all is wrapped up, you will be surprised to find who the murderer is and the reasons for the murders. This is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it.I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
    • 5/5
      I received this book as an ARC. I loved it. I have read the whole series and was looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint. I really enjoyed seeing the relationship between Gage and Keira grow stronger. In this story you see more into Keira's history and what she went through with her first husband. You also get a glimpse into Anderly's history while trying to figure out who is committing murder. I just love this whole series and this newest novel is like visiting a friend. It is a great story and I love trying to figure out the mystery before the end.