Two-In-One: Excited for the Return of a Fav

I'm a total sucker for a well-written, solidly researched historical flick! Throw in a juicy mystery, some romantic spice, and a dashing hero prepared to go to whatever lengths necessary to see justice done and I'm in heaven. Ergo, the reason I adore C. S. Harris and her Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series. The ninth book is due out in a little under a month -- YAY!!!! -- and I thought I'd celebrate the hype a bit by posting a review of What Darkness Brings. After looking at it a bit, though, I decided it just wasn't enough to really get into the spirit of the countdown (yes, I have an actual countdown), so I doubled the pleasure, doubled the fun by throwing in my review of When Maidens Mourn as well! If you're rolling your eyes at me over this, please simply humor me and let me have my fun. I hope you enjoy & please share your thoughts on these great titles too!

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This addition to the fast-paced and intense Sebastian St. Cyr mystery thriller series is excellent. All of the plot threads continue to progress as Sebastian's wits, life, and marriage are tested by the violence and cruelty which can be born from the tarnished soul of mankind. Harris always weaves her scenarios around important historical events or aspects, and this time she treated us to the exploration of a fascinating undercurrent to the political turbulence of the increasingly unpopular Regency: the revival of the legend of the "once and future king." Combining that with the imagined family life of a young Alfred, Lord Tennyson was interesting and effective.

The relationship between Sebastian and his new wife is a central component of the story, much to the delight of this series' fandom. Sebastian and Hero's mutual passion and distrust keep the tension running high in every scene in which they take center stage together. Although the romantic in us all might cry out for the two to make up and just fall into each others arms, the tense division between them allows the investigation to progress as husband and wife ask their own questions and harbor their own suspicions. As Sebastian himself remarked, they did work together quite well in the end. (The feels!)

As much as I hate to say anything negative about a book in one of my favorite series, character decisions were occasionally somewhat vague and inconsistent with what was going on in a given scene. Sebastian, for instance, jumped to conclusions that seemed to come from out of left field, leaving me going "Wha-?!" Some of the secondary characters, such as Jamie Knox, Lord Jarvis, and Bevin Childe were simply left hanging in the end as well. Although I've no doubt the rugged Mr. Knox will make an appearance in successive stories, it gave his and others' parts in this one an unfinished feel ... and you can never have enough of the magnificently dastardly Lord Jarvis (does anyone else visualize him as Charles Dance in his role as Tywin Lannister?)

Minor complaints aside, this is probably one of the best books in this series. I can't wait to catch up with Sebastian and Hero in Book #8. Bravo!

P.S. Do I detect a Richard Sharpe fan in Ms. Harris??? Tee hee...

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Mmm. Mmm. GOOD! It was wonderful to catch up with Sebastian and Hero in this, Harris' eighth historical mystery novel in the addictive Sebastian St. Cyr series. As always, the mystery was sinister and complex, teasingly holding the solution out of reach until the last pages. It was interesting that rather than choosing a specific historical event as she did in many of the other books, Harris set a single object at the center of this story: the gem which would famously come to be known the world over as the Hope Diamond. This plunged us right into the embarrassing and costly disappearance of the French Crown Jewels, and the machinations of the powerful man who would go to any expense to get them back - Napoleon himself! French agents and the suspicious similarity between two remarkable gemstones spice this plot up nicely.

All of our favorite characters made appearances -- Tom, Kat, Jamie Knox, and even Hendon showed up at the Brook Street house briefly, renewing the personal tension surrounding the uncertainty of their relationship and its cause. The delightfully malevolent Jarvis had some screen time as well, plotting and twirling the figurative mustache. And, of course, we see the progression of Sebastian's relationship with Hero. They have managed to break down many of the barriers which kept them from trusting one another in the previous books, and the closeness they have managed to achieve is wonderful to read about. There are still secrets between them as well as conflicting loyalties, but the strain has lessened considerably and they show evidence of forming a formidable partnership.

If I could wish for one thing to improve this book (not that it isn't perfectly wonderful in its own right) it would be the tightening if not full resolution of at least one of the major story arcs that fill this series. Sebastian doesn't know who his real father is ... Countess Sophie is alive and supposedly somewhere in France ... and so on and so on. I would have liked to see these plot lines show some serious progression, but I'll save my hopes for Book #9.

Another absorbing read with fantastic characters and a satisfyingly twisty mystery, Harris never disappoints. Bravo!

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 MAKE SURE TO LOOK FOR WHY KINGS CONFESS, OUT ON MARCH 4th!!

 

BREAKING NEWS: Book #10 Who Buries the Dead has been announced for a March 2015 release!

:-)