Who Will Remember - Historical Mystery Review

Goodreads: Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20) by C.S. Harris

Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  August 1816.   England is in the grip of what will become known as the Year Without a Summer. Facing the twin crises of a harvest-destroying volcanic winter and the economic disruption caused by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British monarchy finds itself haunted by the looming threat of bloody riots not seen since the earliest days of the French Revolution. Amidst the turmoil, a dead man is found hanging upside down by one leg in an abandoned chapel, his hands tied behind his back. The pose eerily echoes the image depicted on a tarot card known as Le Pendu, the Hanged Man. The victim—Lord Preston Farnsworth, the younger brother of one of the Regent’s boon companions—was a passionate crusader against what he called the forces of darkness, namely criminality, immorality, and sloth. His brutal murder shocks the Palace and panics the already troubled populace.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, learns of the murder from a ragged orphan who leads him to the corpse and then disappears. At first, everyone in the dead man’s orbit paints Lord Preston as a selfless saint. But as Sebastian delves deeper into his life, he quickly realizes that the man had accumulated more than his fair share of enemies, including Major Hugh Chandler, a close friend who once saved Sebastian’s life. Sebastian also discovers that the pious Lord Preston may have been much more dangerous than those he sought to redeem.

As dark clouds press down on the city and the rains fall unceasingly, two more victims are found, one strangled and one shot, with ominous tarot cards placed on their bodies. The killer is sending a gruesome message and Sebastian is running out of time to decipher it before more lives are lost and a fraught post-war London explodes.

Genre:   Mystery - Historical

Why I Picked This Book:  I've really enjoyed the previous books in this series.

My Impression:  I really enjoy this series and the last few have really worked for me.  This latest mystery was no exception.  This isn't a quick and cozy read but one where the setting and time period are a heavy presence throughout the book.  The hardships in post-Napolean London are a major plot-point both for Sebastian and Hero and appear on every page in someway or another.  I love Sebastian and Hero's relationship and how they treat each other as equals.  

The mystery was an interesting one and did a good job of showing the danger of "do-godoers" without being heavy handed.    I love the at times gritty gloomy feel of this series and this book and how it compares with the cold power of Hero's father's world and the family coziness of the St. Cyr household.  This isn't the fastest paced read but it is a good one and one I really enjoyed from beginning to end.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  I'm really looking forward to going back and reading the earlier books in the series and look forward to seeing how this series progresses.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you like historical fiction or historical mysteries with a look at multiple sections of society this is a good pick.  It is a series best read in order though you can start with this one.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *