Subtle Blood by KJ Charles

Narrated by Cornell Collins

Note: Subtle Blood is the third instalment of a trilogy which has an overarching plotline; listeners are advised to listen to Slippery Creatures and The Sugared Game first. There are spoilers for those books in this review.

It’s been a few months since Will Darling and Kim Secretan uncovered the identity of the head of Zodiac, a dastardly, secret criminal organisation dedicated to destroying the structures of power – and Kim’s world fell apart. Effectively sacked from his job with the Private Bureau, he’s now helping out at Darling’s Used and Antiquarian, the bookshop Will inherited from his late uncle, but even though he’s turned out to be surprisingly suited to the work – organising the shop and acquiring some valuable collections – neither he nor Will is cut out for the quiet life, and both of them know it. But when Kim’s brother – and their father’s heir, Lord Chingford – is accused of murdering a fellow member of the Symposium Club, the peaceful life they’ve been building together is shattered. Could Chingford conceivably have done such a thing? Kim thinks so, yes. But did he? Chingford refuses point blank to offer any defence, believing that his station as the heir to a marquess means he’s untouchable and doesn’t have to explain his actions to anyone, even the police. Fighting against the current all the way, Kim and Will manage to find out that Chingford was heard having a blazing row with the victim earlier that day, and when Kim sees a small tattoo on the inside of the deceased’s wrist in the exact same place as those worn by the members of Zodiac, his blood runs cold. Could some of its members still be at large? And attempting to regroup?

Well, I’m not saying, because you’ll have much more fun if you find out for yourself! If you’ve been with the series this far, you’ll be aware of how splendidly KJ Charles combines the various elements of her stories into a cohesive whole, and she brings both the mystery plotline and the romance to immensely satisfying conclusions in this marvellous series finale. With his brother suspected of murder and developments in London that threaten Will’s safety, Kim is left with no alternative but to take Will to the family seat in the country while they try to uncover the truth. Doing so forces Kim into proximity with the two people he least wants to spend time with; his father the Marquess of Flitby, who makes no secret of the fact that he regards Kim as a coward and blames him for the death of his youngest son because of his refusal to fight in the war, and his brother, who is an arrogant, entitled bastard who hates Kim every bit as much as their father does. Flitby and Chingford are utterly despicable men who are so blinded by their own self-importance that they simply cannot conceive of the need to take anything other than their own comfort or opinions into account. But for all their awfulness, they aren’t a pair of cartoon villains; they’re fully three-dimensional, and through them, the author exposes the cruelty and injustice of such unthinking privilege, showing the lengths some will go to in order to obtain power and hold on to it.

Thankfully, however, the beauty of the loving, affectionate relationship between Will and Kim acts as a counterpoint to the absolute ghastliness of Kim’s nearest and not-dearest. Through the course of the series, we’ve watched them move from a relationship that began as attraction and expediency informed by inequality and mistrust, to one of mutual understanding and deep-seated trust. They’ve had their ups and downs – mostly due to Kim having to keep Will somewhat in the dark at times due to the nature of his work – but they’ve managed to come out the other side, still broken in some ways, but knowing themselves and each other well enough now to let down their guards and allow themselves to be vulnerable with one another. There are some truly beautiful, loving and romantic moments between Will and Kim in this story that show just how far they’ve come – individually and as a couple, and the scene in which Kim tells Will how he feels and what he wants is completely swoonworthy.

Cornell Collins has narrated almost all of KJ Charles audiobooks, and I’m generally a fan, although there have been a few things about his work on this series that haven’t quite clicked for me. One is that the accent he has chosen to give Will is inconsistent in that it meanders around England; sometimes it’s a West Country lilt, sometimes It’s a Yorkshire one, but Will comes from the Midlands – the other is that I haven’t been wild about the slightly nasal tone he’s used to portray Kim. That said however, that wasn’t so much of an issue this time around – perhaps I’ve got used to it or perhaps Mr. Collins has eased off it a bit, which would make sense given that Kim has been mellowing somewhat as a character.

But even taking those criticisms into account, I enjoyed the listen overall because, on balance, Mr. Collins gets so much right, especially when it comes to the way he conveys the emotional connection between Will and Kim. The narration is well-paced and expressive, the author’s characteristic dry humour is expertly communicated, and all the secondary characters are well realised, with Flitby and Chingford sounding perfectly and horribly nasty. Mr. Collins’ female voices are decent (although Maisie’s Welsh accent is still wobbly!) and his “tirribly, tirribly” posh drawl for Phoebe makes me smile.

Subtle Blood brings the Will Darling Adventures to a fantastic, rip-roaring close with a wonderful and sharply-observed mixture of wit, high-stakes adventure and heart-wrenching emotion. I’m sorry to say goodbye to this fabulous group of characters, but KJ Charles has done them proud, crafting a clever, well-plotted mystery and a very well-deserved HEA for Will and Kim. And even though these aren’t my favourite Cornell Collins narrations, I still enjoyed the audiobooks well enough to recommend them.

Caz