C. S. Harris Books

In 1812 London, Viscount Devlin investigates the murder of a reform-minded bishop found alongside an ancient corpse. His quest for the killer takes him from Smithfield's alleys to Whitehall's power corridors, unearthing dark family secrets and challenging his identity.

It's September 1811, and someone is killing the wealthy young sons of London's most prominent families. Partially butchered, with strange objects stuffed into their mouths, their bodies are found dumped in public places at dawn. When the grisly remains of Alfred, Lord Stanton's eldest son are discovered in the Old Palace Yard beside the House of Lords, the local magistrate turns to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help. Ranging from the gritty world of Thames-side docks to the luxurious drawing rooms of Mayfair, Sebastian finds himself confronting his most puzzling--and disturbing--case yet. With the help of his trusted allies--young servant Tom, Irish doctor Paul Gibson, and his lover Kat Boleyn--Sebastian struggles to decipher a cryptic set of clues that link the scion of a banking family to the son of a humble Kentish vicar. For as one killing follows another, Sebastian discovers he is confronting a murderer with both a method and a purpose to his ritualized killings, and that the key to it all may lie in the enigmatic stanzas of a haunting poem...and in a secret so dangerous that men are willing to sacrifice their own children to keep the truth from becoming known.

The “rich period detail [and] riveting action”* C. S. Harris delivers in her Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series reaches new heights as the aristocratic sleuth navigates dangerous political waters to bring a murderer to justice… Regency London: July 1812. How do you set about solving a murder no one can reveal has been committed? That’s the challenge confronting C.S. Harris’s aristocratic soldier-turned-sleuth Sebastian St. Cyr when his friend, surgeon and “anatomist” Paul Gibson, illegally buys the cadaver of a young man from London’s infamous body snatchers. A rising star at the Foreign Office, Mr. Alexander Ross was reported to have died of a weak heart. But when Gibson discovers a stiletto wound at the base of Ross’s skull, he can turn only to Sebastian for help in catching the killer. Described by all who knew him as an amiable young man, Ross at first seems an unlikely candidate for murder. But as Sebastian’s search takes him from the Queen’s drawing rooms in St. James’s Palace to the embassies of Russia, the United States, and the Turkish Empire, he plunges into a dangerous shadow land of diplomatic maneuvering and international intrigue, where truth is an elusive commodity and nothing is as it seems. *The New Orleans Times-Picayune

“The entire series is simply elegant.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author In this historical mystery from the national bestselling author of Who Slays the Wicked, the abduction and murder of a young boy takes Sebastian St. Cyr from the gritty streets of London to the glittering pleasure haunts of the aristocracy... London, 1813. One of the city's many homeless children, Benji Thatcher was abducted and murdered—and his younger sister is still missing. Few in authority care about a street urchin's fate, but Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, refuses to let this killer go unpunished. Uncovering a disturbing pattern of missing children, Sebastian is drawn into a shadowy, sadistic world. As he follows a grim trail that leads from the writings of the debauched Marquis de Sade to the city's most notorious brothels, he comes to a horrifying realization: Someone from society's upper echelon is preying upon the city's most vulnerable. And though dark, powerful forces are moving against him, Sebastian will risk his reputation and his life to keep more innocents from harm...

The death of a fiendish nobleman strikes close to home as Sebastian St. Cyr is tasked with finding the killer to save his young cousin from persecution in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Why Kill the Innocent.... When the handsome but dissolute young gentleman Lord Ashworth is found brutally murdered, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is called in by Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy to help catch the killer. Just seven months before, Sebastian had suspected Ashworth of aiding one of his longtime friends and companions in the kidnapping and murder of a string of vulnerable street children. But Sebastian was never able to prove Ashworth's complicity. Nor was he able to prevent his troubled, headstrong young niece Stephanie from entering into a disastrous marriage with the dangerous nobleman. Stephanie has survived the difficult birth of twin sons. But Sebastian soon discovers that her marriage has quickly degenerated into a sham. Ashworth abandoned his pregnant bride at his father's Park Street mansion and has continued living an essentially bachelor existence. And mounting evidence--ranging from a small bloody handprint to a woman's silk stocking--suggests that Ashworth's killer was a woman. Sebastian is tasked with unraveling the shocking nest of secrets surrounding Ashworth's life to keep Stephanie from being punished for his death.

In June 1814, as royal families gather in London to celebrate Napoleon's defeat, the festive atmosphere is shattered by the murder of a disgraced British nobleman long believed dead. Eighteen years earlier, Nicholas Hayes, the third son of the late Earl of Seaford, was accused of murdering a young French émigré and sentenced to life in Botany Bay. Disowned by his father, few were surprised when he was reported dead in 1799. However, recent events reveal that he returned to London with a mysterious young boy, who disappears shortly after Nicholas's body is found. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is pulled into the investigation by his valet, Jules Calhoun. Together, they delve into the troubled life of Hayes, questioning why he risked everything to return to England and the significance of the missing boy. As they uncover secrets, they realize that several anxious Londoners had motives to fear Hayes's return, leading to the possibility that one of them may have killed him first.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, has spent years confronting his tragic past, and now the truth will emerge in this gripping historical mystery. In March 1815, with King Louis XVIII restored to the French throne and Napoleon exiled on Elba, Sebastian travels to Paris to search for his long-lost mother, Sophie, the errant Countess of Hendon. His quest leads to tragedy when he discovers Sophie dying in a wasteland at the tip of the Ile de la Cite, having been stabbed and thrown from the island's ancient stone bridge. She dies without revealing her murderer. Living under an assumed name, Sophie had been the scandalous mistress of Marechal Alexandre McClellan, a nobleman from a Scottish Jacobite family. Once a trusted general of Napoleon, McClellan now serves King Louis XVIII at the Congress of Vienna. Sebastian quickly realizes that the French authorities are reluctant to investigate the murder of a notorious Englishwoman during such a sensitive period. Devastated by his mother's death, he resolves to find her killer himself.

In June 1815, as London awaits news of Napoleon's fate at Waterloo, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is sidelined by a recent injury. His attention is drawn to the murder of Major Miles Sedgewick, whose body is discovered in the Thames, threatening his close friend, Irish surgeon Paul Gibson. Gibson's lover, Alexi Sauvage, is entangled in a bigamous marriage with the victim, but several other women—Sedgewick's mistress, neglected wife, and a seduced governess—also have motives for murder. Complicating matters, one of Sedgewick’s fellow officers shares a disturbing fascination with English folklore and the occult. Additionally, Sedgewick was rumored to be transporting a list of Londoners who spied for Napoleon to Charles, Lord Jarvis, the Regent’s powerful cousin and Sebastian’s father-in-law. As Sebastian investigates, he uncovers Sedgewick’s hidden life and a growing list of potential suspects. The situation escalates when others connected to Sedgewick begin to die under mysterious circumstances, and evidence starts to implicate Alexi in the crimes. Fearing for Gibson's safety and desperate to prevent further killings, Sebastian races against time to clear their names and protect his friends from the looming threat of execution.

In this paperback reprint, 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 . . .

Sebastian St. Cyr believed a notorious serial killer was caught until a shocking wave of gruesome murders strikes London in this gripping historical mystery. It's October 1814, and with the war against France over, diplomats gather in Vienna to reshape Europe. However, London is gripped by a series of heinous murders reminiscent of the Ratcliffe Highway killings from three years prior, where two families were brutally murdered. A young seaman, John Williams, was arrested but hanged himself before trial, leading to a temporary sense of security. Now, with the lead investigator, Sir Edwin Pym, killed in a similar manner and others linked to the original case meeting violent ends, fear returns to the city. Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy seeks help from his friend, Viscount Devlin, as Pym's colleagues dismiss the deaths as coincidence. Yet, Sebastian's investigation into the past murders reveals that Williams may not have been the true killer. As he delves deeper, he must uncover the identity of the real murderer and their motive before more lives are lost.

In Brighton, England, in 1811, when the beautiful wife of an aging marquis is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent, wearing an ancient necklace with mysterious ties to Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, Sebastian turns sleuth to investigate the woman's death and follows a deadly trail of murder and conspiracy that threatens his own identity and the monarchy itself. Reprint.

Held Jarvis sucht die Hilfe von Sebastian St. Cyr, um die Morde an acht Prostituierten zu untersuchen. Ihre Verfolgung führt sie vom East End Londons nach Mayfair, während sie versuchen, einen Plan des Mörders aufzudecken, der die Nation gefährdet.

London, Januar 1813. Eine schwer verletzte Französin wird neben dem verstümmelten Körper von Dr. Damion Pelletan in einem der schlimmsten Slums Londons gefunden, und Sebastian gerät in ein gefährliches Netz aus Mord und Rache. Die Frau, Alexie Sauvage, kann sich an den Angriff nicht erinnern, doch Sebastian kennt sie aus einem traumatischen Vorfall in seiner Vergangenheit – einem Akt der Brutalität im Krieg, der ihn beinahe zerstört hätte. Während die Suche nach dem Mörder Sebastian in ein Netz aus Doppelzüngigkeit führt, entdeckt er, dass Pelletan Teil einer geheimen Delegation war, die von Napoleon entsandt wurde, um Frieden mit Großbritannien zu erkunden. Trotz der Warnungen seines mächtigen Schwiegervaters stürzt sich Sebastian in das Geheimnis des "verlorenen Dauphins", des verschwundenen Jungenprinzen der Französischen Revolution, und gerät in Konflikt mit dessen Schwester – der herrischen Tochter von Marie Antoinette, die entschlossen ist, die französische Krone zurückzuerobern. Während der Mörder näher rückt, muss Sebastian auch um Hero und ihr bald geborenes Kind fürchten. Als ihm klar wird, dass der Schlüssel zu ihrem Überleben in den Händen eines alten Feindes liegen könnte, muss er sich der schrecklichen Wahrheit über seine eigene Schuld in einer Vergangenheit stellen, die er zu verdrängen versucht.

Der erste Fall für Sebastian St. Cyr im nebelverhüllten London Ein fesselnder historischer Krimi für Fans von Anne Perry 1811, London: Die Leiche einer schönen jungen Frau wird brutal zugerichtet auf den Altarstufen einer alten Kirche in der Nähe von Westminster Abbey gefunden. Eine am Tatort entdeckte Duellpistole und die belastende Aussage eines Zeugen deuten beide auf einen Mann hin: Sebastian St. Cyr. Der brillante junge Edelmann mit ungewöhnlichen Fähigkeiten - der jetzt als Flüchtender um sein Leben rennt - versucht den wahren Mörder zu fangen, um seine eigene Unschuld zu beweisen. Dabei sammelt er eine Schar ungewöhnlicher Verbündeter an, darunter auch die rätselhafte Schönheit Kat Boleyn, die Sebastian vor Jahren das Herz brach. In der adeligen Welt der Intrigen und Spionage ist nichts so wie es scheint. Doch die Wahrheit könnte den Schlüssel zur Zukunft der britischen Krone und zu Sebastians eigener Rettung enthalten ... Erste Leserstimmen "Historischer Krimi mit wohlig-schauriger Atmosphäre." "Spannender Mystery-Crime - hat mir Lust auf weitere Teile gemacht!" "Krimis zur Regency-Zeit lese ich besonders gerne und auch dieser hat mich bestens unterhalten." "Intrigen, Spannung und die Suche nach der Wahrheit - große Empfehlung!" "Ich konnte mir das vernebelte London bildlich vorstellen und bin nur so in der Geschichte und dem Kriminalfall versunken."