Sung in the Shadows by Crystal Caudill

Sung in the Shadows by Crystal Caudill
Series: Book 2 in The Art of Love and Danger series
Publisher: Kregel Publications (March 17, 2026)

REVIEW BY PRISCILLA BETTIS

Sung in the Shadows is a historical romance and suspense novel. I was surprised to learn it’s the second book in a series because it completely stands on its own. Anyway, Nora is the main character, and she has a beautiful mezzo operatic voice, but her father won’t allow her to sing because it’s dangerous. Along comes operatic stage manager Ezekiel. Ezekiel falls in love with Nora.

She isn’t allowed to sing. He works in the opera. I was thinking from the story’s first curtain that Nora and Ezekiel’s romance was a doomed Romeo and Juliet play.

And just why is singing so dangerous according to Nora’s father? Because Nora’s mother angered some people in the opera business, and ever since then, those nefarious people have been trying to get revenge. Nora’s mother is locked up at Longview (a real-life asylum founded in 1860 in Cincinnati). Is she safe at the asylum? Is she actually mentally ill or just in hiding? A tame historical romance is now a harrowing suspense novel.

Yikes, the Longview asylum! I didn’t doubt that Dr. Chalfant, the asylum’s psychiatrist, thinks he knows best when it comes to the treatments he prescribes, but mental health care was in its infancy in the 1800s. Longview was horrid. And one of the nurses, Nurse Ingram, let her position of authority go to her head. She reminded me of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest … shivers! But to ease the reader’s discomfort (I’m sure Caudill wrote it this way on purpose), the kindest advice and the most sound theology in the whole book comes from one of the patients at the asylum. 

I want to share so many quotes. There are sensual passages about music, saddening descriptions of Longview, insightful reflections about guilt, and more. But I chose a passage about Tristan. Dear Tristan, he’s a one-eyed cat missing portions of both ears, and his presence offers comic relief amid the bleaker bits of Nora’s life. Readers who have cats will recognize Tristan’s full-force feline personality when Ezekiel tries to get the cat inside the cat carrier:

Ezekiel set the open basket on the desk and lifted the cat from Nora’s shoulder. Tristan knew immediately what Ezekiel intended, and his annoyance echoed loudly in the vast space. At the opening to the basket, the cat’s limbs went every which direction and were as hard to direct as a toddler at a piano. Every time Ezekiel thought he had control, one limb would shoot free and prevent him from shoving Tristan inside the basket. After several attempts and some scratches that drew blood, he finally had Tristain contained. The beast was now displeased.

Crystal Caudill, Sung in the Shadows

I can’t believe I enjoyed this book so much. Historical romance isn’t my go-to genre, but Caudill’s infusion of suspense had me eager to get back to the story whenever I had to put it down (and go, you know, tend to real life). So good. Five fish!

I received a review copy of Sung in the Shadows from the publisher.