A brutal murder draws nobleman Sebastian St. Cyr into the tangled web of the British royal court in this gripping historical mystery from the national bestselling author of Where the Dead Lie.London, 1814. As a cruel winter holds the city in its icy grip, the bloody body of a beautiful young musician is found half-buried in a snowdrift. Jane Ambrose’s ties to Princess Charlotte, the only child of … Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne, panic the palace, which moves quickly to shut down any investigation into the death of the talented pianist. But Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife Hero refuse to allow Jane’s murderer to escape justice.
Untangling the secrets of Jane’s world leads Sebastian into a maze of dangerous treachery where each player has his or her own unsavory agenda and no one can be trusted. As the Thames freezes over and the people of London pour onto the ice for a Frost Fair, Sebastian and Hero find their investigation circling back to the palace and building to a chilling crescendo of deceit and death . . .
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it’s a Regency sleuth who travels between royal courts and back alleys in a gritty London. Quite cynical about but he finds whodunit
Addicted to her books now
Looks like it was written to keep a publishing date. Some preposterous scenes and endless speculation on endless suspects.
This book provides a great sense of the time period and insight into real historical figures. I found it to be a fascinating slice of history and a great story.
Love this line of books
Why Kill the Innocent by C.S.Harris is the 13th book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. Jane Ambrose is found covered in snow, murdered, by Hero, the wife of Viscount Devlin. Devlin will be the one investigating the murder. His suspects include a wide amount of people connected to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne. Untangling the secrets of Jane’s world leads Sebastian into dangerous treachery where no one can be trusted.
This is the first book in the series that I have read. Except for a few bits of information that would have helped me in the book, I was in no way put out by that. That said, this can be read as a stand-alone. I found the story to be really well researched. As I finished the book and read the Author’s Note, I was amazed as to how much research by the author there was. That always impresses me when an author of historical fiction sticks to the facts as much as they can.
Hero St. Cyr and Alexi Sauvage are returning home following a visit to one of her patients when they stumble upon the body of a young woman in a snow drift. Hero recognizes her as Jane Ambrose, the long time piano teacher to Princess Charlotte, the sole child and heir presumptive of the Prince Regent. When the palace moves quickly to silence the official investigation, Hero and Sebastian continue and find themselves in the midst of high intrigue and danger.
Of all the books in the series, this was one of the most historically accurate and complex. The central palace figure here is Princess Charlotte, surrounded by many with secret agendas and very few with her best interests in mind, least of all her nasty father. I loved how Sebastian and Hero worked as a team, both formidable individually and a major force together. The stark realities of the era are tough to absorb, heightened by the cruelty of not only the ruling class but a brutal, icy winter upon the poor and disenfranchised.
Sometimes it was difficult to keep up with all the machinations and chess players but I managed just fine. This story has a bit of everything, including but not limited to the romance of Hero & Sebastian, mystery, suspense and history (never knew about the Frost Fair of 1814). There’s a scene involving Hero that I’ll never forget as she showed how distinctly unique she is and has now become my favorite character. This was a highly interesting story with so many, many layers.
The Sebastian St. Cyr series are all well done. You get hooked on them.
Love the Sebastian St Cyr series and this latest lives up to the previous books!
This is a good book, I love all of C.S.Harris’s books.
I love reading this series by the author CSS Harris . The plots are always entertaining, the characters well drawn, invariably well researched and superbly written. All in all a great read and up to her usual high standard.
Highly recommended. Cant wait for her next book.
Well written, great story, cared about the characters, good mystery, part of a great series- read them all!