While Diana is, as ever, a master of description, this book was a hot mess. Disjointed and confusing, it was not what the title promised but another boring Lord John military mystery plunked between a couple rough and sketchy Jamie chapters. I'm no prude, but the opening came off not as the bold and risque move she seems to think it was, but rather just plain TMI gross. I could never warm up to Lord John's family and friends for some reason, and can't this time either. I could have cared less about the plot, and what could have been a deep and meaningful interaction between Lord John and Jamie just didn't happen. They hardly seemed to notice each other and Jamie seemed to have zero to do with the Lord John mystery, except as an excuse to draw us in with the title. I actually left this book sitting on the shelf for half a year without finishing it, which is unheard of as I am a big Gabaldon fan. The concept of a book soley dwelling on the two protagonists was excellent, but didn't deliver. I'm sorry to say that about Gabaldon, but the fact that I wasn't even interested enough to finish the thing says a lot. She lately seems to be sacrificing character and content for her much-lauded descriptive skills (i.e, endless portrayals of people and events that seem to have no real depth or necessary relation to the main characters), and this book was no exception.
