What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris
Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery #16
Historical Mystery
April 6, 2021, by Berkley
ARC
I glommed this series last year and don’t regret a minute of my time spent reading. As with any series, I recommend reading in order because there are ongoing family and relationship dynamics, but I do think you can read this as a stand-alone and not be super lost.
What the Devil Knows begins with the murder of a local magistrate which is eerily similar to the gruesome murders of several years prior. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, heir to the Earl of Hendon, is called upon once again by Sir Henry Lovejoy to investigate and find the murderer before terror grips London once again.
Devlin is by now an old hand at murder investigations and uses his keen senses and insights to go where he needs to go, ask the questions that need to be asked, and figure out the puzzle of how the Ratcliffe murders of several years ago and the current victims all fit together. He is surrounded by a wonderful cast of supporting characters, my favorite being his wife Hero.
This is a suspenseful read, very well researched and the concise, tightly paced chapters keep the story moving at a steady clip. I never for a minute wanted to put this book down. The plot is complicated, but once all the plot threads started to come together it began to make sense and I couldn’t help but furiously flip pages to reach the conclusion. Very well done.
I highly, highly recommend this series for fans of this genre. I look forward to the next installment.
Final grade- B+
A Wicked Conceit by Anna Lee Huber
A Lady Darby Mystery #9
Historical Mystery
April 6, 2021, by Berkley
ARC
I discovered The Lady Darby mysteries when I picked up an anthology for review. At the time I had just finished both the Sebastian St. Cyr and Veronica Speedwell series and was looking for more historical mystery to glom.
A Wicked Conceit is book nine and doesn’t exactly start out the way I was expecting it to… with a dead body. Instead, Kiera and her husband Sebastian Gage are stuck right in the middle of some scandalous gossip. The publication of a book supposedly about the life and exploits of the notorious Bonnie Brock Kincaid, who readers will remember from previous installments, has become all the rage in and around Edinburgh and Lady Darby and her husband are quite disgruntled to find themselves as significant characters. They aren’t sure of who the author is, or how much of Brock’s storied life is actually true, but they do know their character’s narrative is false. Especially the part insinuating a love affair between Kiera and Brock and the questions of her unborn child’s parentage. So they set about to figure out the identity of the author.
Now that I’m nine books into this series, and familiar with all the secondary characters and past plot points, I can tell you that this story was infinitely satisfying. So much going on here, from Brock reappearing and getting to know some more of his background, there’s a little look into Bree and Anderley’s courtship, Kiera’s pregnancy is nearing its end and readers will finally get to meet her little one and Henry and Gage have that conversation about their shared parentage that I’ve been expecting. And yes, there is an investigation and a dead body. So much going on, but this author fits it all together so well.
This was another excellent read in a wonderfully done historical mystery series. I’ve come to love these characters and look forward to my next Lady Darby adventure.
Final grade- B+
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