C.S. Harris, the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries
I don't often find a new series I like enough to sit down and mainline all the books, but I'm enjoying this one. Set in Regency England, the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries deal with espionage, assassination plots, government machinations and murder. Lots and lots of murder. The books are touted as sort of a Mr. Darcy meets James Bond kind of thing, but I'm not sure that's really accurate. It makes the series sound more playful than it is, for one thing. What you basically have is Viscount Devlin, Sebastian St. Cyr, who in What Angels Fear is dragged headfirst into the gruesome murder of an actress and must figure out who the real killer is... before the Bow Street Runners catch him.
What I like best about this series so far (I'm on the fifth book out of nine total) is that they're proper mysteries. There's a murder, there's an investigation, and little clues unfold as you go along. Romance is sort of a subplot, but not the main one, and while there are bits of St. Cyr's dark past lurking in the background, they're still mostly focused on the whodunnit.
Sometimes I think maybe a bit more dash and snark would be welcome, because it feels weird to read a Regency novel that's almost 100% SRS BSNSS and corpses, but that's a very trivial issue. The books are a wee bit graphic in spots, if you're squeamish.
Historical murder mysteries. I am SUCH a happy camper.
What I like best about this series so far (I'm on the fifth book out of nine total) is that they're proper mysteries. There's a murder, there's an investigation, and little clues unfold as you go along. Romance is sort of a subplot, but not the main one, and while there are bits of St. Cyr's dark past lurking in the background, they're still mostly focused on the whodunnit.
Sometimes I think maybe a bit more dash and snark would be welcome, because it feels weird to read a Regency novel that's almost 100% SRS BSNSS and corpses, but that's a very trivial issue. The books are a wee bit graphic in spots, if you're squeamish.
Historical murder mysteries. I am SUCH a happy camper.