Beneath a Silent Moon

Tracy Grant's Beneath a Silent Moon is one of two books in her Charles and Melanie Fraser series. Daughter of the Game remains on my TBR pile; I think it was published first, but it's set after Beneath a Silent Moon chronologically, so I started with this one. It's longer than a standard romance or mystery, and I enjoyed it quite a bit: 4 out of 5.

Summarizing the story will be a bit tricky, because there's so much going on here. Melanie and Charles met in Europe when he was an intelligence agent. They married for expedient reasons. She was pregnant with another man's child (that man is never named, though it's implied that Melanie was raped), and he offered to marry her. Now they have two children; while only one is Charles's biological child, he claims and loves both.

When the story begins, Charles and Melanie have returned to England. They learn that Charles's father is going to marry a woman more than half his age, one who has given the impression that she always loved Charles. When she is murdered, Charles puts his investigative skills to the test to try and find out who killed her.

Beneath a Silent Moon is far more a mystery than a romance, though there are some romantic elements. I was intrigued by Charles and Melanie's marriage, which started out as one of convenience but has developed into something much more. Neither is able to express verbally what they mean to each other. This book also explores the issue of sex with and without emotional attachment in a way that fascinated me.

The mystery is quite well done--it certainly kept me guessing. Here comes a spoiler . . .

. . . I had a difficult time keeping track of all the illegitimate births. Wow, just amazing.

As I mentioned, I have Daughter of the Game in my TBR pile. I will enjoy seeing Charles and Melanie again. I've heard Daughter of the Game is even better than this one. If that's true, I'll be in for a wonderful read.

Alyssa