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Here is a new installment for those of you who can't get enough of Lord John Grey and his mystery series set in the mid-1700s during the Seven Years War between England and France. Last seen in Lord John and the Private Matter and Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, Grey now stars in a short story and two novellas published as Lord John and the Hand of Devils. (As an added bonus, the cover art for Brotherhood of the Blade and Hand of Devils is gorgeous: gold lettering with glimpses of classical oil-portraits of Grey.) You might wonder why the author would try these short literary forms, especially if you remember the intricacy of her two full-length Lord John mysteries. Or you may have gone further and sampled the romance between Jamie Fraser and Claire immortalized in the massive Outlander novels, in which Grey is a minor character. Clearly the author writes marathons in the footrace of literary composition. Think of Hand of Devils as the mortar that binds the bigger slabs in the Lord John universe. This is not to say that you're not getting your money's worth. In these short pieces, the author still retains her sensory detail, robust dialog, and rich historical texture. In an aside, included with each piece, she reveals the reasons why she wrote them. "Lord John and the Hellfire Club" she contributed to an anthology to honor the historical mystery author Ellis Peters who had just died. "Lord John and the Succubus" she wrote for an anthology edited by Robert Silverberg, Legends II: New Short Novels by the Modern Masters of Fantasy. (Rest easy, mystery fans, "Succubus" is not really a fantasy novella.) The final, never-before published novella "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier" may be priming the pump for the forthcoming Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner. The author also specifies her Lord John timeline: first "Hellfire", then Private Matter, "Succubus", Brotherhood of the Blade, and finally "Haunted Soldier." So these shorter adventures fill in the cracks between the actual Lord John novels. "Hellfire" is the shortest and weakest tale. At the highly prestigious Beefsteak Club, Grey gets introduced to an attractive gentleman, Mr. Robert Gerald, the junior secretary to the prime minister. This poor man seems troubled by a personal matter and takes advantage of Grey's sympathetic ear to hint that he needs help. Intrigued, Grey agrees to a meeting, only to witness Gerald's murder. This leads him to investigate the sinister Sir Frances Dashwood who, rumor has it, runs a version of the notorious Hellfire Club at his secluded country estate. The Hellfire Club actually existed: an orgiastic costume party for decadent nobles, it supposedly numbered our very own Benjamin Franklin among its members. Dashwood's version of it comes off as rather underwhelming. We do get to meet Grey's soon-to-be good friend Colonel Harry Quarry. You can see that Grey and Quarry don't know each other very well yet. "Lord John and the Succubus" will please readers who enjoyed Brotherhood of the Blade. We return to the territory that will someday be known as Germany. Grey and his Hanoverian counterpart Captain Stephen von Namtzen mass their troops against a possible advance by the Austrians and the French. But all the waiting makes the superstitious troops twitchy. A rumor starts about a succubus sexually victimizing the troops. This leads to extreme measures such as a churchyard exorcism and group masturbation, suggested by a pragmatic surgeon, to get rid the seed much coveted by the succubus. Grey knows the rumors are nonsense. He starts to uncover a deeper plot to undermine morale. This funny and engaging novella lays the groundwork for the sexual tension between Grey and von Namtzen that seems to come out of left field in Brotherhood of the Blade if you read it as I did without having read "Succubus" first. "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier" has a somber tone. Grey returns from overseas service with shrapnel lodged in his heart from an exploded cannon. He isn't sure when the needle-sharp fragment will pierce his heart and kill him. Now he must face a hostile military tribunal where a colonel, a baronet, and a Member of Parliament all interrogate him as if he is to blame for the cannon having exploded in the first place. This leads to a complicated plot involving cannon manufacture and possible sabotage. The author even manages a sub-plot about a dead soldier of Grey's acquaintance and his pregnant fiancée, cast out by her strict Methodist family. Grey must search for her through the underbelly of London. Twice Grey writes letters (that he then destroys) to the unrequited love of his life: Jamie Fraser, the homophobic, happily-married star of the Outlander series. Here at ObsidianBookshelf.com I tend to get impatient whenever Grey obsesses over Fraser. However, even I felt a pang in my heart when Grey refers to Fraser as "true north" and then confesses, "I love you. I wish it were not so." Then he seals the letter and burns it to ash.
Relevant Links: Lord John and the Private Matter Book 1 by Diana Gabaldon Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade Book 2 by Diana Gabldon The Phoenix by Ruth Sims Captain's Surrender by Alex Beecroft Lord John and the Hand of Devils is available on Amazon through this link:
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