Where the Dead Lie: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery
Set in London in 1813, this is the latest entry in Harris’s St. Cyr mystery series, and it’s a winner!
Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is confronted with the death of a child of the streets. No stranger to the dark underbelly of London, Devlin finds himself deeply disturbed by the boy’s brutal death and the careless dumping of his body into an unmarked grave. So he begins to investigate, learning that there is a powerful connection between the growing pattern of street urchins missing from the sordid streets of London and society’s upper crust. A gentleman has caused these deaths? Who is this monster? And what about this man’s perverse interest in pain and suffering and sexual pleasure which makes killing innocent children a compulsion?
While pursuing the killer, Devlin must search his heart and come to terms with his own history, at the same time attempting to prevent his niece’s marriage to a possible child murderer.
Atmospheric and immediately engaging, this installment in the series was the darkest in tone and plot than the others I have read and enjoyed. Harris appears to have found an intense, deeply personal yet very natural voice in Devlin (coming shortly on the heels of her breakout historical novel, Good Time Coming). She captures the soul of a city both flourishing and corrupt and the politics that make it possible for street children to be murdered without concern. A wonderful read capable of being enjoyed as a stand-alone.
