Where the Reformers Aren't All That Nice

Who Will Remember by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Such a great series. I knew before I opened it I'd love this book--they've all been good, and only getting better.

Sebastian St. Cyr is a great MC, and the only character I like as much as him is his wife, Hero, who I'd really like to see played by Anna Maxwell or someone as nearly like her as possible. She's tough and smart and unafraid, but also kind and energetic and hopeful. They make a great pair in every sense, including crime-solving.

The setting, as always, is well used here. 1815, the year without a summer, is where we find Sebastian trying to solve the strange murder of a nobleman left hanging upside down in the ruins of an old church. It's raining all the time, as it did that summer, almost certainly because of a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world. Important scenes also take place in another ruins, an old palatial residence along the Thames. This is the time period when soldiers are returning from the war with Napoleon, many of them wounded, and trying to find a place in a society--a job, a family, a way to survive. (Hero is interviewing some of these veterans to write a story about the difficulties fighting men faced in that era.) The author is very good at using genuine details like these to establish a real sense of place and time to give the story an added level of gritty realness.

It's a great mystery with lots of clues and misdirection, but it's also an action story. There is genuine danger for Sebastian and Hero and a few others, and they have to act and react to survive; it's not cerebral effort alone, and I like that mix. A few of the novels in this long-running series lean pretty far toward the side of high stakes and high anxiety, giving the reader a lot of tension, and all of them (IMO) tend toward that side of the scale, more tense than cozy, but I'd put this one and quite a few of them pretty nearly in the center of that scale. (Not sure I'm making my thoughts clear. Hope so.)

These books are always fun. I read a lot of books (a little at a time) all at once, and this one stayed at the top of the the pile every day. Or I'd read a chunk of a book I'm only kinda enjoying with the promise that I'd read this one next. Which is to say--this is good fun.

Recommended.

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Where It's Darker Than You Think

What Cannot Be Said by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another outstanding entry in an amazing series. I love the characters and their arcs, the language, the action, and the pacing of the story, and I'm in awe of the research and world-building. I read books in small daily chunks (multiple books, a little at at time) and it's very hard not to just consume these novels. Every page invites you to keep going.

Not that the subject matter is light. It's informative and engaging and thought-provoking, but it's not light. The murders at the center of this story are disturbing, and the truth, when it comes out, is just the worst.

It's also very real.

It sounds like there are plans for more books in the series, and I'm totally ready for that. I seldom buy new hardcovers, or pre-order anything, but I'll make an exception for these all day long.

Highly recommended.

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Where There Are So Many Bodies

What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I say this every time: such a fun series.

What I love here, and in most of the previous books, is the careful look at everyday lives as well as upper-class lives; we deal with a lord and lady who care about the poor, the overlooked, the impoverished, the oppressed. They actively work to undo some of the harm faced by people who never had a chance, and I love that about them. And the reader learns a ton about the way society worked back then, the way men and women thrived or didn't.

This story deals with the apparent return of a serial killer (or mass killer--I'm not sure which is best here) who terrifies a part of London. Evidence mounts that the man accused of the first murders years ago, who committed suicide in prison, was probably not guilty. Somehow, the deaths are connected to families who own pubs, but the reason is not clear.

My only struggle in these novels is that I can never pay sufficient attention to minor characters to know who's who without flipping back. "Is that the guy's brother... no, is that the guy who runs the brewery?" Every time I vow to keep track better, maybe write names down on cards or something, but I never do. Readers with a better memory won't have this problem, I'm sure.

As always, Devlin's wife Hero is played in my head by Anna Maxwell Martin, and I need someone to start filming these with her in that role...

Very entertaining book. Lots of fun to read. Informative too. 5 stars, easy.

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Where Hardly Anyone Cares about Justice

Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sebastian has four perfect suspects for the murder of a convicted felon who has secretly returned from Australia. But why would anyone murder him when they could just turn him in for illegally coming back?

One of the keys to this series is the concern for the forgotten and oppressed citizen, for the people suffering through no fault of their own. It tells us a lot about the time and place--Regency era, England--but it reveals a lot about our own time, too. It's not an essay; it's a murder mystery. But the feeling in it runs deep because injustice, when you're fully acquainted with it, feels so personal.

The victim, we learn, was a victim years before, being blamed for something he didn't do, the crime which sent him around the world. (Okay, that's a spoiler--but you will guess it, I think.) He has returned to England with a child, and that young person's life is in danger from whoever killed him. As is so often the case, the crime and the circumstances around it touch on the security of the nation. Empire has its own demands, and they are seldom aligned with the needs of individuals who live within it. (That tension informs the whole series. A crime is committed; someone must pay the price. Order must be maintained, or at least the illusion preserved.) The needs of university students and young lovers and orphans and widows are not given much weight in such a world.

The "damned" in the title refers to the murder victim. Everyone wants Sebastian to leave it alone, but he believes we owe the dead the truth. So many people want to hide the truth. The answer makes a lot of sense, but I won't lie--I didn't figure it out. (Other mystery readers and literary savants might have more luck.) :) Great pacing throughout with a satisfying ending.

This is a very successful novel, the 15th in a very successful series, and I highly recommend it for all mystery readers, along with those who enjoy this setting in related genres.

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Where the Bad Man Dies at the Beginning

What Darkness Brings by C.S. Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eighth book in an excellent series.

We continue the long slow arc telling the story of Sebastian St. Cyr; his old love, Kat; his father; his new wife, Hero; and her father. Sebastian and Hero continue to grow closer, which is part of the pleasure of this novel. Also, they inherit a cat, which I liked.

It's a good story with a good mystery, and if it seemed a trifle less awesome than the previous seven did... well, it might just be me. I still liked it plenty. I couldn't say what I thought was missing, and I have no notes--just a reaction. In any case, I still highly recommend it and very much look forward to the next one. I'm glad to know that there's a bunch of them still.

Maybe the next one tells us what happened to his mom. Waiting for that story.

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Where I Make a Case for the Whole Series

When Maidens Mourn by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is such a consistently excellent series. Book 7 and I'm loving it as much as book 1.

Usually, I concern myself most with how much I enjoyed reading a thing. If I like it, whether it's classic literature, poetry, graphic novels, or genre fiction, and if I have a good time reading it, I call it good--5 stars. This qualifies, and I embrace my completely, unabashedly subjective viewpoint when I make that claim. But even in the realm of quasi-objectivity, where one makes a case for a book, still filled with subjective judgments but trying to evaluate dispassionately, this series and this book deserve critical acclaim.

IMO, of course. But I'll explain.

The prose is excellent--unfailingly clear, precise, and unobtrusive. In style, it adopts a Regency vocabulary and grammar just enough to suggest the time without demanding the reader pay particular attention. Dialogue comes off as realistic while still serving the narrative and meeting genre expectations. And both bloody action scenes and romantic scenes (and everything in between) are handled with the same skill, the same sensitivity, with perhaps a drop of poetry here and there, giving the reader a clear view without cloying melodrama. It's uniformly well handled.

The characters continue to be interesting and engaging. I want to know what happens to them (kind of as people) more than I usually do when reading a series. The author makes all recurring characters round, or as round as as practical for their time on the page, with identifiable good and bad qualities, genuine motivations, disruptive personal conflicts, and gradually revealed backstories full of surprises. The most central characters also are sufficiently dynamic, changing a bit in each book, and not always for the better. This is all intentional, and I think it's well done.

Excellent pacing. Nice use of setting details. Engaging, thoughtful discussions about poetry, history, war, love, family, and more. Satisfying conclusion.

It's well constructed. It's as fun to read as it is because the author has worked hard to make it that way. Once in awhile it pays to look under the hood and see how that works.

Recommended. Read the whole series. I need to go order the next three or four of them. I promised myself I'd quit buying them just one at a time....

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Where It Just Keeps Getting Better

What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great book.

This series, IMO, is written at a consistently high level, and I'm loving every bit. Every element--character, setting, plot--is given proper attention and it shows.

The main character, Sebastian, is a likable and believable protagonist, and he is joined by many other sympathetic recurring characters. His relationships with his father, his romantic interests (Kat and Hero), his friends, other family members, and professional acquaintances all continue to evolve in ways that keep me interested without leaning toward soap. Lots of interesting arcs. You could make a case that there's a bit of melodrama here, but I'm good with that; it works well, especially with a Regency setting.

Speaking of which--the setting is used to good effect here as well as in the previous books. This story brings details of American Revolution and its new government into the plot, exploring some of the generational repercussions back in England, and I found it both informative and interesting. (Benjamin Franklin's son is a person of interest in the story, drawn into the plot in a clever way, and I'll admit I knew very little about him before this.) The various locales, from society drawing rooms and government offices to rural churches waterfront dives, come off as realistic, contributing a strong sense of place.

And, as always, the mystery plot is well planned and executed. There is a bit of luck and randomness in the story, and Sebastian has some timely help from other characters, but most of the forward motion and the accumulation of clues that lead us to the truth come from his initiative and efforts, which I find very satisfying. The teasing out of the hidden facts and the pacing in general is brisk throughout, keeping readers like me entertained at a couple different levels.

Anyway, this is lots of fun. I started the series very recently, so I'm psyched to have years of the author's hard work already laid out for me to read whenever I like. That's one advantage to being late to the party.

Recommended.

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Where Sebastian Moves On--Kinda

Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This continues to be an entertaining series. Seldom do I find the third or fourth book as engaging and fun as I found this and each one before it. I'm glad there are several more waiting for me to start them.

A few changes here. Having discovered an uncomfortable truth, Sebastian and Cat no longer see one another, and that disrupts the setup for these novels; but Hero Jarvis, the daughter of his kinda enemy, Lord Jarvis, fills that void very well. She reminds me (in a good way) of people I know. I feel like she could be played on screen by Anna Maxwell Martin, or someone like her, and that's who I saw in my mind whenever she was in a scene. There are some fun interactions between Sebastian and Hero, and I look forward to the rest of their arc. (I accidentally started the fifth book before this one, so I encountered some spoilers. I'm okay with that.)

I like the way the main character is a good guy who is capable but not infallible, who surrounds himself with people who are also capable and generally good but edging toward gray, and who takes a principled stand in matters that concern the life and safety of others, especially when the rest of society just doesn't care. He can be stubborn and put himself in the wrong, but he comes around in time. I like him, and I like the people around him. He has me rooting for Tom, his young servant, and his cockney valet, and his undefined friend Hero, and his not-completely-legal doctor friend. It's a great cast. That's why the books keep getting 5 stars from me.

Lots of fun. Recommended.

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Where Book Two Doesn't Disappoint

When Gods Die by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the past year, I've given up several series--three, actually--that I thought I was gonna like. I struggled a bit in book one, found I totally disliked book two, and reluctantly did not finish. In each case I had bought a couple books ahead, even. Dumb.

But I'm glad this series turned it around. I liked the first and I liked this second one more, if anything. I'm looking forward to the third as well, which I already bought ahead, having learned nothing at all from my previous experience....

Sebastian St. Cyr is an interesting character, both in terms of his personality and his in-between place in society. He's a good guy, honorable and fair, though he's seen some things and is capable of some things, too. As he's a member of the noble class, welcomed to the parties and dances and salons of the upper class, he's able to follow his investigations anywhere necessary, and while this and some other oddities about him put him a bit on the outs with good society, he doesn't care. Working class men couldn't possibly make headway on cases involving the upper class, and he's one of few noblemen who would be willing to try.

Of course, fitting in at one end of society means he sticks out at the other end, in the dodgy parts of town, which is why he has taken on Tom--an independent, resourceful street kid--as his "tiger." Tom goes where Sebastian can't, chatting up servants and skulking around low-class dives. And Sebastian's great love, Kat, an actress, has her own contacts and resources that are useful to him (though she helped him a bit more in book one than two).

This novel's about a woman who appears to have been murdered by the Prince Regent at a party. Of course, there's a lot of intrigue behind the affair, but what draws Sebastian into the investigation is the necklace she was found wearing--one that belonged to his mother, who was supposed to have died in a shipwreck years before. Good setup, that.

In brief: excellent action, good pacing, lots of anxious conflict, terrific mystery. I'm happy to have settled in to a series to my liking. :)

Recommended, of course, for readers of historical mysteries.

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Where Reality Matched Expectations

What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an entertaining historical mystery with engaging characters and a nicely fleshed out Regency England setting. I had recently given up on a couple of series that I really thought would be awesome, so my high hopes started to feel like the kiss of death as I started this book. Glad to find no curse on it--just a fun book that kicks off what I hope is a great series.

I mostly look for mystery and action in my mystery/action novels, and though I like a bit of romance in the mix, I sometimes find it eclipses the bits I most enjoy. (YMMV.) There's a goodly amount of romance here, but, unusually for me, I would've preferred more than we got. Sebastian and Kat, star-crossed lovers thrown together once more, make a captivating couple, and their is-it-doomed-or-not? love affair is both central to the plot and a big part of the fun of reading it. I expect that will continue in future novels--we'll see if I'm disappointed in that prediction or not.

Sebastian is a good MC, with lots of nerve and enough of the right kind of skills to be both intellectual and heroic in the role of detective. I also found him sympathetic, which is what matters most to me in the end as a reader. He's a good guy trying to do his best, but as a veteran of the Napoleonic wars he is capable of defending himself and others when called on. Kat, his love interest, is also sympathetic and likable, with genuine and compelling reasons of her own for the life she's living and refusing to marry the man she loves. Anyway, I'm still rooting for those kids.

Good first novel. No slow spots for me. I hope the series keeps on with the same happy momentum.

Recommended.

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