Lady Kiera Darby first appeared in The Anatomist’s Wife and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Lady Darby.

What is your name?
That should be an easy question to answer. But thanks to society’s convoluted rules of decorum, it’s not. Legally, my name is Mrs. Kiera Anne (née St Mawr) Gage. But by courtesy, most still address me by my first husband’s title, Lady Darby. That is because his rank was higher than that of my second husband. Much like Catherine Parr, King Henry VIII’s final wife, retained the rank and title derived from him even after she married Thomas Seymour. Though, somehow, I suspect at times she found the courtesy as repugnant as I do.

How old are you?
I am 26 years old.

What is your profession?
I am a gentlewoman, so I wouldn’t exactly call it a profession, but I employ my time and talents as a portrait artist and as an investigative partner to my husband, who is a gentleman inquiry agent.

Do you have a significant other?
Yes. The Honorable Sebastian Gage.

What is his name and profession?
Gage is a gentleman inquiry agent of some renown, along with his father.

Any children?
I am expecting our first child. The happy event is anticipated to occur in April (1832).

Do you have any sibling(s)?
One sister – Alana, the Countess of Cromarty; and one brother – Mr. Trevor St. Mawr.

Do your parents live near you?
Sadly, both of my parents are deceased. My mother died when I was but eight years old, and my father joined her just four years ago.

Who is your best friend?
My closest friend is my sister, Alana. But I also have two relatively new friends who have become very dear to me: Charlotte, Lady Stratford, who, funnily enough, started out as a bit of an enemy; and Lorna, Lady Tavistock.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
I have one cat, a gray mouser I dubbed Earl Grey. Although, I suppose he’s no longer mine. I gave him to my nieces and nephews, who had grown unaccountably fond of the fat feline while I lived with them. So, I suppose I’m currently without an animal familiar.

What town do you live in?
I suppose you could say I live many places. Gage owns a townhouse in Edinburgh and London, and my siblings have always encouraged me to think of their residences as my own. This means that my brother-in-law, Philip, the Earl of Cromarty’s town residences, as well as his Highland Estate—Gairloch Castle—feel like home, as does my childhood home in the Borders region of Scotland and England—Blakelaw House—which currently belongs to my brother. My father-in-law also owns several residences that my husband will one day inherit. Whether we shall ever settle predominantly in one place and where, I don’t know, but for now, we are exceedingly fortunate in our circumstances.

House or building complex? Own or Rent?
All of the properties mentioned above are owned, though that does not mean they are without their debts.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
Invariably, wherever my art studio has been located, be it the conservatory, an abandoned tower, or a drafty room at the top of the house.

Favorite meal? Favorite dessert?
Lemon tea cakes. A warm cup of chocolate.

Favorite hobby?
Painting. Though, that is certainly more than a hobby.

Favorite author?
I have recently developed a great admiration for this Frenchman, Victor Hugo. His poetry is affecting, and thankfully I am fluent enough in French to have been able to read his latest novel, Notre-Dame de Paris, and not have to wait for the English translation.

Favorite vacation spot?
The loveliest place I have ever taken a holiday must be the Lakes in the North of England in Cumberland and Westmorland where we traveled for our wedding trip. The scenery was breathtaking, the colors so vivid. I could spend one hundred years attempting to capture its magnificence on canvas and fail.

Favorite sports team?
Gage, Philip and Trevor all attended Cambridge, so I suppose their team.

Movies or Broadway?
I beg your pardon, but what are those? Street names? [Editor’s note: LOL!]

Are you a morning or a night person?
Night.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
My husband and I are not paid for our services—at least, not in currency—but I certainly wouldn’t call us amateurs.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
My husband, his valet—Anderley, my maid—Bree, and at times my father-in-law—Lord Gage. For the sake of full disclosure, I admit we’ve also teamed up with other characters of reputation both sterling and dubious as the task warranted, be it a whip-smart Bow Street Runner or the head of Edinburgh’s largest gang of criminals.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
That depends on whether we’re pursuing an inquiry and what city we’re currently residing in. For the several months we’ve resided in London, I’ve preferred to rise by mid-morning and break my fast with a cup of chocolate and toast. Then I sort through any correspondence before adjoining to my art studio to paint. The afternoon is usually filled with one social decorous task or another, which I admit, I am forever attempting to avoid. After tea and a quiet hour or two of reading or sketching, I dress for dinner before joining my husband for whatever amusement has been scheduled—a ball, a dinner party, an invitation to the theater—or barring that, a quiet evening at home.

You can read about Lady Darby in An Artless Demise, the seventh book in the “Lady Darby” historical series, released April 2, 2019.

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?

Purchase Link
# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Anna Lee Huber is the Daphne award-winning author of the national bestselling Lady Darby Mysteries, the Verity Kent Mysteries, and the Gothic Myths series, as well as the forthcoming anthology The Deadly Hours. 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 in Indiana with her family and is hard at work on her next novel. Visit her online at annaleehuber.com.

All comments are welcomed.