Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Harris' talent for character development, polished prose, and accurate, Regency-era details makes this eleventh or any of the previous 10 an easy starting point for newcomers to the Sebastian St. Cyr series. The first line is a fabulously evocative hook: It was the fly that got to him. And idiomatic turns of phrase, like cast up his accounts, transport readers into the period. In this puzzler, St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, visits Ayleswick-on-Teme at a friend's deathbed request but also to probe a personal matter concerning his ancestry the source of his mysterious yellow eyes, acute vision, and ability to hear what no one else can. Of course, murder complicates matters: a young artist visiting the village is brutally slain, followed by another inexplicable killing. The presence of Sebastian's unconventional wife, Hero, and their jolly baby gives an additional twist to the already tangled plot. Seemingly unconnected people as disparate as Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, a so-called simpleminded whittler, and a woman who could be St. Cyr's twin, plus delightfully labyrinthine clues, muster into order under Harris' masterful command. Psychologically atmospheric like Imogen Robertson's Westerman and Crowther mysteries, with the skewering social wit of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, this is historical mystery at its best.--Baker, Jen Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Harris's strong 11th Regency whodunit (after 2015's Who Buries the Dead) takes nobleman Sebastian St. Cyr to Shropshire in 1813. Two years earlier, Sebastian learned that he was a bastard. Recently, he met Jamie Knox, who may have been his half-brother, but Jamie was shot dead in London by someone who was aiming for Sebastian, and Sebastian has now taken it on himself to deliver a present to Jamie's grandmother in the village of Ayleswick-sur-Teme. There he's recruited by the callow local squire, Archie Rawlins, after a woman's body is discovered in a meadow. The presence of an empty bottle of laudanum near the corpse leads the constable to consider the death self-inflicted, but Archie has his doubts, which Sebastian is able to validate. The victim is identified as Emma Chance, a widow who just arrived in the village. The presence in the area of Napoleon Bonaparte's renegade brother Lucien enhances the intricate murder puzzle. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When Emily Chance's body is discovered near the Shropshire village of Ayleswick-on-Teme in 1813, the local squire calls on Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, to investigate the suspicious death. Sebastian soon discovers that the widow was not what she pretended to be and several people had motives for her murder. Emily's search for her mother's rapist might have upset the local aristocrats. Or she might have accidentally discovered local smugglers at work or French agents passing messages to an exiled Lucien Bonaparte. It is up to Sebastian and Hero, his intrepid wife, to figure out which secret killed Emily, before it destroys them, too. VERDICT Harris's 11th series installment (after Who Buries the Dead) is both an engrossing tangled mystery and astonishing tale about a tragic search for identity. An excellent choice for St. Cyr fans and readers of historical mysteries. [See Prepub Alert, 10/4/15.]-Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, takes on his 11th case when he and his wife investigate an apparent suicide. Emma Chance was a young widow who came to the quiet town of Ayleswick-on-Teme to sketch the local buildings. But when the son of Lucien Bonaparte, younger brother of the emperor, discovers Emma's body next to an empty bottle of laudanum, local magistrate Archibald Rawlins calls in Devlin. Rawlins is young and new to his position, and he knows that Devlin, who's in the neighborhood with his wife, Hero, has worked with Bow Street before (Who Buries the Dead, 2015, etc.). Devlin establishes that the young woman was smothered to death, but before he can figure out who did the deed, the murder of a government agent further complicates the case. While Devlin is investigating the two killings, he's also trying to solve the mystery of his own life by discovering who his father was. He passes as the son and heir of the Earl of Hendon, but he knows he's the issue of his mother's affair with another man. His search gives him something in common with Emma, who came to Ayleswick to learn about her own parentage. And her fate is eerily similar to that of two other young women who supposedly killed themselves. Devlin doesn't rule out the suspicious presence of Lucien Bonaparte, supposedly estranged from his more famous brother and a houseguest of the gracious Lady Seaton, whose son had fallen in love with Emma. While Hero is researching the devastating effects of the loss of the local communal land, she helps Devlin with his investigation, even at her own peril. A long-ago fire, a house party that led to tragedy, a missing sketchbook, a quotation from Hamlet ripped from the book of the parish vicar, and the sinister presence of a gibbet further entangle the couple and complicate Devlin's personal quest. Another complex, well-researched tale shows that the protagonist and his progressive wife don't suffer the boredom of everyday domesticity. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
