[NOVEL] A Whisper of Death by Darcy Burke

After being viciously stabbed and left for dead, Hadrian Becket, Earl of Ravenhurst struggles back to health only to discover he is cursed with a vexing ability to see visions he can’t explain. Terrified he may be going mad, he must keep the disturbing skill secret. But when it proves helpful in tracking his would-be killer, he has no choice but to embrace the newfound power. The retrocognition leads him to the house of a man recently deceased, where he encounters the clever and intriguing Miss Matilda Wren—who may be able to help him solve the many questions raised by the attack.

The death of Tilda’s cousin has left her and her beloved grandmother in a precarious financial position when she discovers their investments have gone missing. Between the lost money and the mysterious Lord Ravenhurst’s incessant queries, Tilda begins to wonder if her cousin may have been murdered. Desperate to determine what happened, she’ll exhaust every possible line of inquiry to stave off destitution. For a price, Tilda agrees to work with the earl to uncover the truth, though she suspects he’s hiding a dark secret.

As their investigation grows, so does the body count, but can they trust each other enough to expose the puppet master pulling the strings? Or will the villain’s malevolent machinations end with more than a whisper of death?

Raven & Wren. Book 1

This wasn't easy I must say. Although I enjoyed the last half of the book (and especially the intriguing last line of the book as a nice hook for the next book) the first 1/3 dragged on quite a bit. There was not much going on and it felt like events will proceed very slowly.

Since it's a mystery I will not include how everything was solved, but I'd like to note that few details that were connecting the dots were chosen to be pretty neat. I can only add - props matter.

Hadrian (with an H~) Becket, Earl of Ravenhurst was attacked and stabbed, he survives and wants to find the assailant, but his case is closed, the blame pushed on a person they will hardly find. And Hadrian would never seek justice. But because of that attack and the fact he hit his head on the pavement, Hadrian started seeing visions that did not belong to him. The ability scared him and he could not confide it to anyone, but it certainly managed to lead him to a house where he hoped to find a man he saw in one of those visions, only to find that the man was dead. And although the cause of death was indicated to be heart disease, but the daughter mentioned a wound on the right side, same place where Hadrian was stabbed.

But how to connect both cases?

The one who helped him with investigation was a woman related to this man - miss Matilda Wren. She took a job as an investigator. And since then they joined hands to uncover the truth, after all Tilda was also seeking truth about her grandmother's finances that were managed by the murdered man.

I think this is the 3rd? book that I've read, which had mystery, investigation led by couples. What made them different is that authors tried to involve both parties into investigation so they could matter along the way. For example Ravenhurst has his ability, but it is not omnipotent, he only sees bits and pieces that he might not understand. But it's not his entire usefulness. When they face someone not willing to talk his title as a lord plays a huge role that helps people to take them more seriously, after all Tilda is a woman and many disregard the fact that she is quite intelligent and has a wit about her and only look at her gender. Tilda helps them to navigate it better, while Hadrian is sometimes too eager, Tilda is the one who knows what role it is better to play and how to make people talk and when to stop. So they create a nice union. Reminds me how in Veronica Speedwell FMC and MMC basically put out theories that led to nothing (even the final evidence, if I don't mix it up, was found by accident). In Dr. Julia Lewis her and Tennant do not go through briefing of the case or reasoning, she provides her knowledge and he searches for the truth, but she is somewhat involved.

So yeah, each couple have their own style. Which of course makes them unique.

The one thing different is that author openly writes about their subtle affection for each other. The type where they have a great impression of each other, but are far away from claiming it romantic (or do not realize it's like the door opening to romance). But I found it interesting that this subtle feeling did not originate from their endeavours, it was simply a good impression which slowly grew. But of course they're too far away from forming a bond of other nature. For that we need to see the next book. 

The series so far has 3 books and 4th on its way to be released Sep 9th.

I enjoyed it. Will see how it goes with others. I want to read so much and mainly all books I want to read are a series...

RATE: 4/5.