Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Where the Dead Lie by C.S. Harris

Where the Dead Lie: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris --- 338 pages

In the twelfth book in Harris' Regency mystery series, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is confronted with his most gut-wrenching case yet. Homeless children from London's slums are being stalked, kidnapped, brutalized, tortured and murdered by a serial killer --- and what passes for the law of that time is largely indifferent to their fate.

When the midnight disposal of one young boy's mutilated remains on an industrial wasteland is accidentally witnessed, the watchman who is summoned to the scene recognizes the corpse and rather than dropping it in the "poor hole" --- the mass grave reserved for paupers and unidentified corpses ---takes it to Sebastian's friend from army days, Paul Gibson, a surgeon and anatomist. Gibson enlists Sebastian's aid.

But Sebastian's investigation is complicated by family connections. He discovers that one of his leads, a notorious brothel that caters to wealthy men who like young girls and whips, is under the protection of his politically powerful father-in-law, who uses the brothel as a means of compromising his political enemies. One suspect, a dissolute aristocrat with a string of scandals attached to his name, has just become betrothed to Sebastian's headstrong niece. Another suspect is equally depraved, but as a blood relation to the royal family, untouchable by the law. A third suspect caters to the licentious desires of aristocratic ladies. Such men can commit their crimes with impunity.  Society does not care. But Sebastian does, and he will use any means necessary to bring this killer to justice.

An unsparing portrait of the bitter reality behind the elegant facade of British high society. Definitely NOT your typical Regency romance!

Click HERE for the review from Kirkus.

Click HERE for the review from Publishers Weekly.



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