Genre: Novella, Historical, Mystery
Rating: B-
There were elements of "Lord John and the Haunted Soldier" that I liked, and elements that I disliked. The story deals with the consequences of the explosion of a cannon. Tom Pilchard, that Lord John momentarily is in command of during Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade. An inquiry has been formed as Grey's cannon was not the only one to explode: in the previous ten months, a total of eight cannons have exploded, causing a lot of death and injury among the British army. During the inquiry it is insinuated that Grey is at fault for the explosion of his cannon and that the overall fault lays in faulty gunpowder - gunpowder that is produced by Grey's elder half-brother, Edgar DeVane. Once again, it is up to Grey to take up his own investigations and ensure his family's honour.
The one thing that I really liked about this story was the fact that by this point in the series a group of antagonists are clearly being established. While none of these antagonists are actual villains in any of the books they do appear regularly and their dealings are often antagonistic to that of Grey's. I am looking forward to the point at which Grey actually faces off with these individuals directly, and I wonder if he will do so one-on-one or if it will be a great face off between him and all of them. The book was also very fast paced, which was nice in comparison to its predecessor. Gabaldon doesn't bog herself down with the details (a rarity) and focuses most on telling the story. That having been said, I really wasn't attracted by the story. I found parts of it interesting, but when it was all said and done I felt like the whole thing was handled a bit too easily. Once again, a lot of it really felt a bit contrived. Overall, not Gabaldon's best work, but also not her worst.
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