March 1, 2021
The Ratcliffe Highway murders terrorized London in 1811, until the main suspect committed suicide in prison, a sure sign of his guilt. Which makes the grisly murder of a magistrate in 1814 even more alarming, suggesting that a copycat is on the loose--or the original killer was never caught. Sebastian St. Cyr is called in to help solve the case, but every thread he untangles just leads to more knots. And then the killer strikes another magistrate. Both victims demanded graft from the pub owners in their districts, but as the body count rises, the connection between murders becomes even more muddied. The sixteenth in Harris' historical-mystery series, following Who Speaks for the Damned (2020), may be the most complicated installment yet, including the upheaval in St. Cyr's personal life when his father-in-law, cousin to the Prince Regent, gets engaged to a woman as conniving as he is. As readers try to guess the identity of the killer, they will enjoy the ride through the many levels of Regency English society this case involves.
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March 1, 2021
An aristocrat investigates a murder at the opposite end of British society. Bow Street Magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy asks Sebastian St. Cyr and his wife, Hero, no strangers to murder, for help in a dangerous and politically sensitive case: the murder of Magistrate Sir Edwin Pym. Three years after the notorious 1811 Ratcliffe Highway killings, Pym has been brutally murdered in the same way, his head bashed in and his throat cut. Although a suspect to the earlier killings was duly arrested and hanged himself in prison, this latest outrage indicates that either the authorities had the wrong man or there's a copycat at work. Sebastian--who's the son-in-law of the powerful Lord Jarvis and heir to a dukedom despite not being the natural son of the duke--doesn't know who his real father is and is desperate to track down the mother who deserted him, recently spotted on the continent. When more killings follow, Sebastian seeks and finds connections between sailors and the owners of public houses in the rough area near the docks. He's shocked by the depth of depravity the wealthy will sink to in order to enhance their fortunes. Convinced that the suspect who killed himself was innocent, he labors to connect the murders, many of which may have been committed to cover up the original crimes, searching for a motive while narrowly escaping several attempts on his own life. An intricate puzzle, based on a series of real-life murders, that indicts social injustices that continue to this day.
COPYRIGHT(2021) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from April 9, 2021
In this latest entry in Harris's long-running historical mystery series, a spate of gruesome killings leads Sebastian St. Cyr to a series of much less remarkable murders which cover up a network of criminal activity that reaches from upper-level government circles all the way down to the poorest quarters of London's East End. It's obvious to St. Cyr that either there's a copycat to the infamous Radcliffe Highway murders, or the wrong man was convicted and executed for the Radcliffe murders three years ago. In his investigation, he is led to the inexorable conclusion that the answer could, quite possibly, be both. And that someone is willing to attack St. Cyr's family to keep that secret--and many others--as quiet as the grave. VERDICT The St. Cyr series, and this entry in particular (following Who Speaks for the Damned), is highly recommended for readers who want their history appropriately dark and gritty, their politics dirty and corrupt, and their mystery fascinating, convoluted, and just as relevant now as it was then. Sebastian St. Cyr, with his foot in the aristocracy and his eye on justice, is a hero to be followed into whatever dark corner he investigates.--Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA
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