Why Kill the Innocent (Sebastian St. Cyr Series #13)

by C. S. Harris

Overview

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 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 . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780399585647
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/26/2019
Series:	Sebastian St. Cyr Series , #13
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	77,109
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

C. S. Harris is the national bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including the Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series (Where the Dead Lie, When Falcons Fall, Who Buries the Dead, Why Kings Confess, What Darkness Brings); as C. S. Graham, a thriller series coauthored by former intelligence officer Steven Harris; and seven award-winning historical romances written under the name Candice Proctor.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 1
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Why Kill the Innocent"
by .
Copyright © 2019 C. S. Harris.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
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Editorial Reviews

Praise for Why Kill the Innocent

“The best St. Cyr yet.”—Booklist

“The mystery highlights the circumscribed course of women’s lives of the Regency era while exposing the rot that underlies the period’s glitter…. Highly recommended for lovers of historical thrillers.”—Library Journal, starred review


Praise for When Falcons Fall
 
“Harris’ talent for character development, polished prose, and accurate, Regency-era details makes this eleventh or any of the previous 10 an easy starting point for newcomers to the Sebastian St. Cyr series...Psychologically atmospheric like Imogen Robertson’s Westerman and Crowther mysteries, with the skewering social wit of Anne Perry's Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, this is historical mystery at its best.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“An engrossing tangled mystery and astonishing tale about a tragic search for identity. An excellent choice for St. Cyr fans and readers of historical mysteries.”—Library Journal
 
“Strong...[an] intricate murder puzzle.”—Publishers Weekly
 
Praise for the Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Series
 
“This riveting historical tale of tragedy and triumph, with its sly nods to Jane Austen and her characters, will enthrall you.”—Sabrina Jeffries, New York Times bestselling author 
 
“Sebastian St. Cyr is everything you could want in a Regency-era nobleman-turned–death investigator: uncannily clever, unwaveringly reserved, and irresistibly sexy. The entire series is simply elegant.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
 
“Thoroughly enjoyable . . . Moody and atmospheric, exposing the dark underside of Regency London.”—Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author

From the Publisher

02/26/2018
Harris’s fascinating 13th mystery set in Regency-era London (after 2017’s Where the Dead Lie) centers on the plight of Princess Charlotte, heiress presumptive to the throne, who’s being encouraged to marry William, Prince of Orange, a union designed to benefit her father’s political agenda. Hero Devlin, Sebastian St. Cyr’s wife, and midwife Alexi Sauvage are hurrying home from helping with the delivery of an infant when they literally stumble on the body of a young woman, whom Hero recognizes as Jane Ambrose, Princess Charlotte’s piano teacher. An examination of the corpse indicates that Jane was killed elsewhere and dumped in the street. Soon Sebastian and Hero are investigating the death, in spite of aggressive efforts on the part of the palace to label it as accidental and so shield Princess Charlotte from any hint of scandal. Or is there a more sinister reason for their actions? Harris ably weaves real events into a satisfying mystery that’s chock-full of engrossing historical tidbits. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 02/01/2018
In his 13th investigation (after Where the Dead Lie), Sebastian St. Cyr and his wife, Hero, work to expose the seamy underbelly of Regency London in a case that begins on the frozen streets of down-at-heels Clerkenwell but reaches all the way up to the halls of power. When Hero discovers the body of Jane Ambrose, it is obvious that she did not die of the killing cold; it is also apparent that the Palace will want to hush up the death of the crown princess's piano teacher. When St. Cyr refuses to let the case rest, he must sort through conflicting motives, from an unfaithful husband to power brokers who feared she knew too many secrets. His dogged determination eventually finds an answer close to home. The characters of St. Cyr and Hero defy societal expectations in ways that seem plausible for their time while speaking strongly to contemporary readers. St. Cyr is haunted by PTSD and a search for his own shadowed identity, while Hero proves to be his equal partner at every turn. The mystery highlights the circumscribed course of women's lives of the Regency era while exposing the rot that underlies the period's glitter. VERDICT Highly recommended for lovers of historical thrillers. [See Prepub Alert, 11/15/17.]—Marlene Harris, Reading Reality, LLC, Duluth, GA

Library Journal

2018-01-23
The famous London Frost Fair of 1814, which took place on the frozen River Thames, provides the chilling backdrop to a death caused by a woman's desire to cast off the shackles of her unhappy life.On a bitterly cold and snowy day, Hero Devlin, a reformer who often visits some of London's most squalid areas, stumbles over the body of Jane Ambrose, piano teacher to Princess Charlotte, the prince regent's daughter. Hero sends for her husband, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, knowing that the death of someone close to the princess will be made to look like an accident—which it might indeed have been if the body had not been moved from another place. Hero and Devlin, no strangers to mystery (Where the Dead Lie, 2017, etc.), resolve to find the truth even though it will be both difficult and dangerous. Hero's father, Charles, Lord Jarvis, the regent's cousin and hatchet man, will do nothing to help her. The peevish, petulant regent, hated by most of the populace, is intent on divorcing his wife and keeping his daughter isolated from society because she's more popular than he is. The couple's sleuthing turns up all too many possible killers, ranging from Jane's husband to Nathan Rothschild, and motives, from jealousy to dangerous secrets. Jane's twin brother received the acclaim his more talented sister deserved. She was also denied credit for writing her husband's popular operas and was often mistreated by him. And a hurried autopsy shows that she had been raped in the days before her death. Hero and Devlin use all their connections high and low to turn up clues as they crisscross the frozen city.Harris does a fine job of exploring the striking inequality and political intrigue of the Regency period in a mystery packed with historical detail and myriad motives.

Kirkus Reviews