Last year, PW's reviewer really savaged Where Shadows Dance, so I was quite relieved when this year's offering received their nod of approval. Here's the Publishers Weekly review:
When Maidens Mourn: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery
C.S. Harris. NAL/Obsidian Set in August 1812, Harris’s intriguing seventh Regency whodunit featuring aristocratic sleuth Sebastian St. Cyr (after 2011’s Where Shadows Dance) marks a return to form. St. Cyr has just married Hero Jarvis, the fiercely capable daughter of his bitterest enemy, Charles, Lord Jarvis, a cousin of the Prince Regent and the power behind the throne. The stabbing murder of Hero’s antiquarian friend, Gabrielle Tennyson, who was studying excavations at Camlet Moat in Trent, disrupts the newlyweds’ honeymoon plans. That Camlet Moat and the legendary Camelot may be one and the same is a more-than-academic point at a time when radicals are “calling for King Arthur to return... and save Britain from the benighted rule of the House of Hanover.” The couple pursue their investigations separately, at the risk of their fragile new relationship. Established fans will best appreciate the personal convolutions, but newcomers will have no trouble keeping up. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Mar.)
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6 comments:
Building the suspense ... I love it. May I say that I think Sebastian and hero are always in fine form?
Great review! They do add a bit more detail about the book than other reviews I have read, but I don't think they are giving too much away. I think the political/historical angle is a great selling point (at least to me).
I am now curious to find what is it that *they* found to be "out of form" in "Shadows." I don't remember than review...
Barbara, thank you!
Paz, it was such an awful, awful review I don't think I even posted it. But I've no doubt you can Google it. If I remember correctly, they found it confusing and convoluted.
Confusing and convoluted? Did we read the same book? It was perfectly clear to me! Counting down the days until Maidens pops up on my Kindle!
Looking forward to WMM. I think the phrase "cut to the chase" is an anachronism referring to film editing. Love the characters. I particularly liked your exploration of the idea of honor in your last book.
I remember reading that review and after I read the book wondered if we read the same book. I thought it was one of the best in the series.
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