Why Kings Confess: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00IU148JA | Format: EPUB
Why Kings Confess: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Description
The gruesome murder of a young French physician draws aristocratic investigator Sebastian St. Cyr and his pregnant wife, Hero, into a dangerous, decades-old mystery as a wrenching piece of Sebastian' s past puts him to the ultimate test. Regency England, January 1813: When a badly injured Frenchwoman is found beside the mutilated body of Dr. Damion Pelletan in one of London' s worst slums, Sebastian finds himself caught in a high-stakes tangle of murder and revenge.
Although the woman, Alexi Sauvage, has no memory of the attack, Sebastian knows her all too well from an incident in his past - an act of wartime brutality and betrayal that nearly destroyed him. As the search for the killer leads Sebastian into a treacherous web of duplicity, he discovers that Pelletan was part of a secret delegation sent by Napoleon to investigate the possibility of peace with Britain. Despite his powerful father-in-law' s warnings, Sebastian plunges deep into the mystery of the " Lost Dauphin," the boy prince who disappeared in the darkest days of the French Revolution, and soon finds himself at lethal odds with the Dauphin' s sister - the imperious, ruthless daughter of Marie Antoinette - who is determined to retake the French crown at any cost.
With the murderer striking ever closer, Sebastian must battle new fears about Hero' s health and that of their soon-to-be born child. When he realizes the key to their survival may lie in the hands of an old enemy, he must finally face the truth about his own guilt in a past he has found too terrible to consider.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 10 hours and 44 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Recorded Books
- Audible.com Release Date: March 6, 2014
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00IU148JA
The new Sebastian Devlin is a fast paced whodunnit which starts off with his friend Paul Gibson stumbling upon two bodies in one of the nastier back alleys of east London. The man is dead with a horrendous wound in his chest, his heart missing; the woman with him is injured but survives after Paul takes her back to his surgery for care. Sebastian gets involved at first out of curiosity and finds himself deep into French politics, both with a commission sent to Britain to explore the possibiility of negotiating a peace treaty and with the Bourbon royal family in exile who are all adamantly opposed to any negotiation with Napoleon. After an unsuccessful attempt on his life, Sebastian finds the case more personal, and with more victims. The major question is who is behind the murders and why was the heart of the first victim, a member of the French delegation, of such importance. The action is swift and the characters are fascinating, including the Duchess of Angouleme (the daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette), a member of the French exile court who is also a "molly", and the doctoresse who Paul rescued. A couple of characters seem to be superfluous to the plot at first but they are successfully tied in with the others at the end. As always, Hero Devlin is an intriguing character and it was a pleasure to see her evolving relationship with Sebastian. Paul Gibson is also an appealing character and may now have a real romance in his life in future novels. I also enjoy Sebastian's aunt, a true "grande dame". I read this in one day because it was so interesting and the fast pace made it difficult to put down. While it is not absolutely necessary, I recommend reading the novels in sequence in order to understand the relationships among the characters.
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