Monday, May 19, 2014

Why Kings Confess...

Why Kings Confess by C.S. Harris is the latest Sebastian St. Cyr mystery; it takes place in Regency England in January 1813. A Frenchman, Dr. Damian Pelletan, is murdered, his heart ripped out. As Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, investigates, he discovers that not only does Pelletan have ties to a secret peace delegation sent to England by Napolean, but he also has ties to the exiled royal House of Bourbon, including Marie-Therese, the daughter of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and her dead brother, the "Lost Dauphin". Pelletan's sister, Alexandrie Sauvage, is also living in England, as is the Frenchwoman he once loved--a woman now married to a ruthless English aristocrat. What secrets will Devlin dig up in the course of his investigation? And who will be the next to die?

I have my own confession to make, I don't read these books for the mystery as much as I read them for the characters. Especially Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. He's such a compelling character--"thirty years old, tall and lean, with a vaguely menacing bearing that reminded one of the time he'd spent as a cavalry officer." He has golden eyes that see in the dark and a passion for making sure that murder victims who would otherwise be forgotten get justice. He's the kind of character a girl can crush on.

If you've never read a Sebastian St. Cyr mystery before, I suggest you start with the first in the series,  What Angels Fear, although I read the third book, Where Serpents Sleep first myself. They're all great reads. I love this series and these characters. And my bookish bonus with Why Kings Confess is that it fills another category for me in the What's in a Name Reading Challenge. Category filled with this book: Read a book with a position of royalty in the title. My current Reading Challenge status: 4 books read; 1 book to go.

Happy Reading!

5 comments:

  1. I love the sound of this series and have been meaning to read it for a long time! I'll take your advice and start with What Angels Fear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that you have to love the characters to stick with a series! If you don't, they start to get boring. I'm glad you found a series that you love. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true about a series getting boring. Luckily, this one hasn't yet. :)

      Delete
  3. I like that you read it for the characters, and I love that third part of the description you've quoted, it's different! Well done on What's In A Name :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! And thanks for stopping by; I've really been enjoying this reading challenge.

      Delete