50 books: lord john grey and the hand of devils
Title/Author: Lord John Grey and Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon
Page Count/Book Type: 302
Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery
Back of the Book: In Lord John Grey and the Hellfire Club, Lord John glimpses a stranger in the doorway of a gentlemen's club -- and is stirred by a desperate entreaty to meet in private. The rendezvous forestalled by a sudden murder, Lord John will wade into a maze of political treachery and a dangerous, debauched underground society...
In Lord John Grey and the Succubus, English soldiers fighting in Prussia are rattled by the nocturnal visitations of a deadly woman who sucks the life and soul from a man. Called to investigate the night-hag, Lord John finds a murdered soldier and a treacherous Gypsy, and comes to the stark realization that among the spirits that haunt men, none frighten him more than the specters conjured by the heart...
In Lord John Grey and the Haunted Soldier, Lord John is thrust into the deadly case of an exploding battlefield cannon. Wounded in the same battle, Lord John is called to testify and soon confronts his own ghosts -- and the shattering prospect that a traitor is among the ranks of His Majesty's armed forces.
Page One: Part One A Red-Haired Man
London, January 1756
The Society for the Appreciation of
the English Beefsteak, a Gentleman's Club
Lord John Grey jerked his eyes away from the door. No. No, he mustn't turn and stare. Needing some other focus for his gaze, he fixed his eyes instead on Quarry's scar.
"A glass with you, sir?" Scarcely waiting for the club's steward to provide for his companion, Harry Quarry drained his cup of claret, then held it out for more. "And another, perhaps, in honor of your return from frozen exile?" Quarry grinned broadly, the scar pulling down the corner of his eye in a lewd wink as he did so, and lifted up his glass again.
Lord John tilted his own cup in acceptance of the salute, but barely tasted the contents. With an effort, he kept his eye on Quarry's face, willing himself not to turn and stare, not to gawk after the flash of fire in the corridor that had caught his eye.
A collection of three novellas, my favorite is by far Lord John Grey and the Succubus if only for more character development between John Grey and Stefan von Namtzen! Lord John Grey and the Hellfire Club probably had the best twist out of the three, for being one of the shortest, but The Haunted Soldier unraveled a little too quickly and strangely that I think I missed a few important details, so the ending has me confused.
I have to give my thanks to George R.R. Martin for making these books possible, because if he wasn't completely distracting (himself?) and Diana Gabaldon from working on their main series, I would be without anything that I want to read! Holding my breath for their new anthology to come out so I can get my hands on the next two Lord John novellas, hurrah! Hurry up, fat man.