I fought the pull of C.S. Harris’ Sebastian St. Cyr novels for a long time before I succumbed. I would suggest you don’t wait. If you are interested in Regency England and can handle grisly murder with a side of politics and madness, this is the 16-book (so far) series for you.
“What Angels Fear” (2005) introduces Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a man with secrets and a past, some of which are his doing and some of which are thrust upon him. All of that makes it easy for the authorities to believe Sebastian killed a young woman whose mutilated body was found in an ancient parish church in London. Sebastian must solve Rachel York’s murder while evading the law and running for his life – because the killer is still out there and wants to silence Sebastian before he can uncover the truth.
Usually I don’t reveal spoilers, but honestly, we wouldn’t have much of a series if Sebastian was caught and hanged for murder, now would we? It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Sebastian is innocent of the murder; how he proves it and unveils the culprit is what makes these novels worth the read.
As of this writing, I’ve read nine of these books and I have yet to figure out who the murderer was before the reveal.
Harris knows how to draw in her reader with a good story, but she also knows her subject matter, namely Regency England, because she has a Ph.D. in 19th century Europe. The rich historical details are one of the reasons I love this series.
Harris has created a compelling lead character. Although born to the aristocracy, Sebastian is no mere fashionable gentleman. He served six years in the British army fighting Napoleon and the French, witnessing too many atrocities before resigning and coming back home. Those experiences haunt him, as do the secrets of his past.
Sebastian has a complicated background and Harris mines various parts of it according to the plot of each book. Sebastian’s gifted with extraordinary hearing and the ability to see very well in the dark. As a viscount, Sebastian can move through the upper levels of society that would be closed to the magistrates. Intelligent and open-minded as he is, it is Sebastian’s finely-honed sense of justice that keeps him on the hunt.
Even with all his natural abilities, Sebastian himself needs a bit of help at times. Since this is Regency England and there were no crime labs back then, Sebastian relies on information in his pursuit of the truth. To get that information, he turns to a wide assortment of acquaintances and even enemies:
• Tom, a street urchin who tries to pick Sebastian’s pocket and ends up saving his life;
• Kat Boleyn, an actress that Sebastian fell in love with and wanted to marry, but she sent him away years ago because her secrets could destroy him;
• Paul Gibson, an Irish surgeon who, like Sebastian, was in the military until a cannonball took off the lower part of his leg – and he uses opium to deal with the lingering pain. His passion is learning about human anatomy, even if he has to resort to the “resurrection trade” to do it;
• Sir Henry Lovejoy is a straight-laced lawman who finds having a canny nobleman on his side is a distinct advantage while navigating a murder investigation and the political ramifications from it;
• The Earl of Hendon, Sebastian’s father, with whom he has a complex relationship;
• Lady Amanda is Sebastian’s older sister, but being born female, she was passed over to inherit the title and resents Sebastian mightily because of it;
• Henrietta, dowager Duchess of Claiborne and Sebastian’s doting but sharp-tongued aunt – a delight every time she appears on the page – knows the ancestry of everyone in the peerage;
• Charles, Lord Jarvis, is a distant cousin of the Prince Regent and the real power behind the throne. Jarvis is an extremely dangerous man and will do anything to maintain England’s control of the world, even as it slips away. And he’s sworn to see Sebastian dead, no matter how long it takes.
• Hero Jarvis is every bit as intelligent and stubborn as her father, but she harbors radical ideas about women’s rights and helping the poor, much to her father’s chagrin. As dedicated in her own way to justice as Sebastian, she can go places even he cannot.
Harris populates her novels with real people like William Franklin, son of Benjamin, but a Loyalist to the king; Jane Austen, a banker’s observant spinster sister finding inspiration for her future novels; a very young Alfred Tennyson, before he became a poet; Napoleon Bonaparte, military leader who wreaked havoc across Europe; Marie-Therese, daughter of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI of France; England’s Prime Minister Spencer Perceval; and the Prince Regent himself, of course. Some are mentioned, others play a role in the plot. I even learned about some historical figures I didn’t know existed.
I think both men and women will enjoy this series for its peek into history and 19th century crime-solving, with a touch of subtle humor – but it is not a series for younger readers or for those with delicate sensibilities. The murders that Sebastian is involved in are heinous and often involve some form of mutilation or abuse of the corpse.
Life for the aristocracy in Regency England could be elegant and privileged, but for the lower classes was often brutal and cruel – slavery is a fact of life; orphans were everywhere; children were sold into a line of work or to a brothel; women were second-class citizens and wife-beating and rape were common. That’s the macabre side that Harris has chosen to portray, using Hero Jarvis’ crusade to show how difficult life could be for those with no means to support themselves. I’d heard of chimney sweeps, but didn’t know how dangerous the job was, and I had no idea what a street sweeper was until reading these books.
Another warning: “What Angels Fear” takes place in 1811, after the United States has won what we call the Revolutionary War, but before the War of 1812, both fought against the British. The Brits may be our allies now, more than two centuries later, but they didn’t really like us back then. We were the upstart Colonists, throwing off England’s rule – and some, like Lord Jarvis, thought the Americans were defying the natural order of things by disobeying our “betters,” who had a God-appointed right to rule as they saw fit. Americans might have a hard time grasping some of those old notions about monarchies and the ruling classes, but there were many who believed in them whole-heartedly.
I always recommend reading a series in order and that’s especially important with this one, because Sebastian’s life changes quite a bit from the first book through the series, particularly as he discovers more and more secrets about himself. I’d also say that Harris hits her stride as a storyteller about the third or fourth book and the series takes off from there.
The latest book is “What the Devil Knows” (2021). Now is a good time to catch up because the 17th novel, “When Blood Lies” is set to be released in April 2022. For more about C.S. Harris, visit csharris.net online.
