Silent in the Sanctuary
I am quite happy that I caved, as I am quite enjoying Silent in the Sanctuary. (And I am listening to my mp3 player illicitly at work, yet again. But let's not get dragged down with details.) But I do have one quibble: for some inexplicable reason, this book is narrated by a different narrator than Silent in the Grave. In itself, that is not necessarily a bad thing. But the bothersome thing is that this narrator, Jennifer Van Dyck, is American. And speaks with an American accent, despite the ability to do a passable British accent, as evidenced by some characters' voices.
Again, not necessarily bad in itself. But this is an historical novel, set in Victorian ENGLAND. It's hard to reconcile the accent with the setting. The worst bit is that JVD does some quite lovely British and Scottish and Italian and Romani accents for the various characters--and even for the heroine's voice. Yet the heroine's inner monologue is American. Ouch.
It's hard to take. Especially as the narrator of the first novel, Ellen Archer, did such a wonderful job. It makes me sad. I hope that Silent in the Moor, due in early 2009, has a narrator capable of a sustained English accent.