Woohoo! I stopped by Borders today for a random browse, and stumbled upon this brand-new "Lord John" book!

I'd first encountered Lord John Grey via his small but significant appearance in Voyager, the third of Gabaldon's "Outlander" books, and he immediately became my favorite character in the series by far. In fact, I've found the subsequent "Lord John" stories and books more entertaining than the "Outlander" books, though whether that's because they feature more of Lord John, or because they're in a different style - or both - I'm not quite sure.

The previous "Lord John" stories and the Lord John and the Private Matter novel have been mysteries, in which Lord John has to juggle the secrets of his own private life - it's not easy, and certainly not safe, being a gay man in the mid-1800s - but also must attempt to fulfil his military, family, and societal duties, which often involve him having to solve a murder or three.

This book, which, while not quite as hefty as the typical "Outlander" tomes, is still a good deal longer than the previous "Lord John" book, and judging by the cover-blurb it seems that it's more of a historical novel than a mystery. There are also suggestions that Jaimie Fraser will make an appearance, or at least be referred to more directly than in previous "Lord John" tales, where there were usually just hints about John's fixation on tall, red-headed men {wry grin}.

I'm looking forward to spending more time with Lord John, and I hope that he gets at least something resembling a romantic relationship! [If only for a while... The "Lord John" stories are set in a time period that's relatively early in the "Outlander" series, generally at or about the setting of Voyager and the book after that one, and because of the references to and appearances by Lord John in the later "Outlander" books, some of the possible outcomes of his own tales are not in doubt. But he's got a few years to play with here before his story intersects with the "Outlander" books again, and it'd be lovely if he got to enjoy them!]

[Update: the book's available in unabridged audio, read by Jeff Woodman, who read the previous "Lord John" books and stories - and very well, too. I'll be listening to that via my Audible.com subscription.]

Mild spoiler warning: while the spoiler in question is really fairly obvious (I think so anyway), if you don't want to read ANYTHING about the plot, stop reading now.

OK?

The good news is that this book could be subtitled "Lord John gets laid" - and high time, too! So far, every previous romantic interest of his has either died in battle, been murdered before anything got going, turned out to be an evil cad, turned out to refuse to come out of the closet, or - most notoriously - turned out to be straight. [I'll leave the identification of each of the preceding to the reader {grin}.]

But here, practically on the first page, John meets an appealing fellow who's not only of a suitable station and social class but also seems equally attracted to John. Hooray! [They're in no hurry, though; the courtship is tantalizingly - and frustratingly - slow in developing, and I think it's nearly a third of the way through the book before they, um, get together. But when they do, it's worth the wait; woof! Quite explicit, actually, though couched in Gabaldon's steamy-sex-scene-speak, and very, well, steamy...]

John's attempt at romance isn't the only plot in the story, though. There's a subplot touching on events at Helwater, where Jamie Fraser is serving out his parole. The events of this story intersect with events mentioned in some of the "Outlander" books, including a key death and an even more significant birth, and yes, there are several scenes in which Fraser makes an appearance [pause for cheers from the "Jamie" fans]. [The last one of those was... well, it struck me as very odd and off-key; it was made under highly tense circumstances with a lot behind them, but I still found it hard to believe, and a scene that yanks me out of the story is one I consider a bad scene. Your mileage may vary.]

Another plot has to do with the death of John's father, something that's barely been hinted at in other books; seems there was a huge mystery, with his father having been accused of treason, and that his death has been considered a suicide to avoid the shame of the accusation. But strange things start to happen, accidental meetings, bits of evidence surfacing in unusual places and such, and this makes John start to investigate the facts surrounding his father's death. [I should note here that I'd spotted the likely culprit fairly early on into John's information-gathering - not because I'm good at mysteries but because the pattern of information had a "...and here's the overlooked character!..." aspect that practically screamed "guilty". But as this has almost nothing to do with the majority of the book, I didn't really care whether I'd spotted it or not.]

Yet another plot: a small matter of a war. John's a career soldier, of course, as is his brother Hal. [Hal has a pretty big part in this book, and I liked learning more about him, and seeing the really good brotherly relationship between him and John - not always running smoothly, but with a deep respect and affection. John himself doesn't know whether Hal knows about John's personal life, and prefers to let that lie. I like to think Hal would be loyal even if he did know, but at that time and place it could ruin his career even to be associated with a "sodomite"...] Anyway, their outfit is sent off to fight alongside their Austrian allies (it's the Seven Years' War, not that the soldiers seem to care what war it is or why it's being fought), so John's investigation into his father's death - and his affair with his new lover Percy - have to be put on hold. [Percy is also in their company, but of course it would be fatal to be caught together, and in any case there's a great deal to be done to keep their troops in order, so for the time being they play it cool.] The battle scenes are detailed and convincing, all the more so because there are few death-or-glory charges (and the one that is there is bitter in the extreme), but lots of incidents of surprise, confusion, accidental encounters, getting lost, getting wounded - the things that happen in battles.

All these plot elements do intertwine, sometimes in ways that seem a bit far-fetched, yet overall I enjoyed the story. I wasn't too surprised by the inevitable - um, OK, that would be a pretty big spoiler, so I won't mention it, but I had been expecting it, just not quite in the form in which it occurred. The aftermath drives events for the last half of the book, though I found some aspects of the way things played out a bit disappointing. The various questions do get resolved one way or another, but I felt that some of the wrappings-up were too heavy-handed and contrived, especially after all the work that had gone into setting up the background.

But the period detail is, as always, convincing and compelling; I don't just see the settings, I feel the scratchy clothing or the sticky mud, smell the blood and gunpowder (and other, more interesting things!), and generally feel as if I'd spent some time there. And I do like John, even if he'd be better off if he stopped obsessing about that red-headed prisoner!

RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book inside the Hippo free-newspaper box out in front (more or less) of Martha's Exchange pub at about 2:45. [As a slightly skewed Mother's Day theme, the book does feature Lord John's mother in a significant and often surprising role!] Hope the finder enjoys the book...