Where the Dead Lie by C.S. Harris

Narrated by Davina Porter

It’s the rare author who can reach the twelfth book in a long-running series and still keep coming up with fresh ideas and interesting developments, but C.S. Harris manages to do both those things and more in her latest Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery, Where the Dead Lie. In this new instalment, our aristocratic sleuth becomes involved in the search for the perpetrators of the most horrible crimes upon the weakest, most vulnerable members of society – London’s street children. It’s a disturbing listen at times – as it should be, given the subject matter – and Ms. Harris doesn’t pull her punches when describing the plight of these often very young children who have been left parentless and homeless through no fault of their own, and how they are repeatedly betrayed by those privileged few who should be helping rather than taking advantage of them.

This is one of those series where the books really need to be listened to in order, and I would imagine it’s difficult to just pop in and out, reading some books and not others. Each of the mysteries is self-contained and reaches a satisfying ending, but just as compelling as those individual tales is the overarching story of Sebastian’s search for the truth about his birth and what happened to his errant mother, his difficult relationship with his father, the Earl of Hendon, and the intense animosity lying between Sebastian and his father-in-law, Lord Jarvis, cousin to the Regent and the power behind the throne.

Please note: As this is book twelve, there are likely to be spoilers for the earlier titles in this review.

When Sebastian returned from the battlefields of France and Spain around three years earlier to assume the mantle of Viscount Devlin, he was embittered and reckless; his two older brothers had died, leaving him as his father’s heir, and he had not forgiven the earl for cruelly separating him from the woman he loved, actress Kat Boleyn. As the series has progressed, Sebastian has made shocking discoveries about his parentage and his already fragile relationship with Hendon has become even more fractured as a result. But recent events have changed him; he is deeply in love with his wife, Hero – a highly intelligent, compassionate woman who his clearly his perfect match – and has recently become the father of a young son. Fatherhood enables him to view his father’s situation in a different light, and provides the impetus for an improvement in their relationship which is rather lovely to see and hear.

Those subtle relationship shifts and the happiness of Sebastian’s marriage provide some respite in what is a fairly dark story which sees him investigating the brutal murder of a young boy, whose battered, mutilated body is found buried in a shallow grave on the grounds of an old, disused factory in Clerkenwell. When it is discovered that the boy had been raped and tortured, Sebastian is sickened and determined to discover who could have done such a thing to a child. His investigations lead him to suspect a few men of his own class, conscienceless men who will stop at nothing in order to secure their own pleasures and who see nothing wrong in ridding the streets of unwanted children in whatever way they see fit. It’s this attitude as much as anything else which drives Sebastian to continue to hunt for the murderer even though he comes up against one brick wall after another; and worse, the young sister of the latest victim is still missing and it must surely be only a matter of time before she is abused and killed like her brother. When more bodies are found at the site, it’s obvious that this cycle of abduction, abuse and murder has been going on for quite some time, and the deeper Sebastian digs, the more obvious it becomes that he is looking for more than one killer. It’s also apparent that whoever is responsible for this series of horrific crimes has powerful friends and protectors, and that without absolute and irrefutable proof, it’s going to be nigh on impossible to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The author once again draws an evocative picture of the London streets, from the dingy, mud and muck-strewn cobbles of the East End to the grand houses of Mayfair, showing the daily struggle faced by so many who lived in utter squalor with little to look forward to but an early and probably undignified death. She also evokes the level of outrage Sebastian feels towards the people committing the atrocities to such a degree that it’s almost tangible; there’s no doubt that he is deeply affected by the things he sees and hears, and that he is driven to root out this evil and see it stopped.

I said at the outset that the mysteries in the books are self-contained, but that isn’t quite true of this one, because while one of the wrongdoers gets his just desserts, another remains at large and I imagine Sebastian’s investigation will continue in the next book. There’s also a sub-plot brewing concerning a distant cousin of Hero’s which promises to provide intrigue and complication, so I am eagerly awaiting the release of book thirteen in 2018.

Davina Porter is very firmly entrenched as the voice of the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries, and a very good job she does, too. As one would expect in a long-running series, there are a number of recurring characters, and their portrayals are consistent with their earlier appearances, although I have noticed a change in her characterisation of Henry Lovejoy, the magistrate who has become a friend of Sebastian’s and who sometimes assists in his investigations. Lovejoy is described as being a small man with an unusually high-pitched voice (or he was in the earlier books), but I can’t say that I noticed much difference between the pitch Ms. Porter uses for him and the pitch she employs for many of the other male characters. I also noticed that the young boys in the story – young lads living precariously on the streets – all sounded pretty similar, and in turn sounded very much like Tom, Sebastian’s tiger. I confess to having a soft spot for Tom and to enjoying Ms. Porter’s characterisation of him very much; and given that the boys don’t appear in scenes together, there’s no possibility of confusing them. Otherwise, all the characters are skilfully and expertly differentiated using a variety of timbre, tone and accent. Hero’s voice is imbued with warmth and intelligence and her mother’s frailty is subtly hinted at; Hendon is gruff, Jarvis snarls convincingly and, at the centre of it all is Sebastian himself, portrayed convincingly by means of a drop in pitch and a deliberate manner of speech that works very well to convey that this is a man not to be messed with.

Where the Dead Lie is a well-plotted mystery rich in historical detail and intrigue. It’s a gripping listen and one I’m more than happy to recommend.

[section label=’Audiobook Information’ anchor=’Audiobook Information’]

Caz

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: Where the Dead Lie

AUTHOR: C.S. Harris

NARRATED BY: Davina Porter

GENRE: Historical Mystery

STEAM FACTOR: You can play it out loud

REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XYDL9R4/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Where the Dead Lie by C.S. Harris on Amazon[/button]