The one with the murdered friend of Hero that had a French lover.

As they are trying to figure out their marraige.

Hero has become one of my favorite literary sleuths, despite the fact that she is not technically the protagonist. It's rare I like both partners in a husband and wife crime-fighting team, but I have high hopes for these two.

As with most historical mysteries, I’m reading more for the period and the relationships than the actual mystery, but this was a compelling one all around. Sebastian and Hero and their tangled relationships continue to fascinate and Harris has created a realistic and evocative look at Regency England’s class society at all levels. I’m going to breeze through this series pretty damn fast.

I was inclined to like this book right from the get-go when I first read it several years ago. I’ve long been a fan of the Arthurian legend and the art and academics surrounding it, and before this book was first published, I was involved in the discussion regarding the cover art as part of the author’s blog community.

Now that I’ve finally had time to return to the series with more life experience, it only grows better. I just love the character of Hero. I admire her self-possession and practicality. Sebastian’s awareness of the hidden gem she is continues to grow. As they’re still navigating that awkward newlywed stage of adjusting your life to have another person in it, along with the circumstances bringing them together in the first place, I have high hopes that their teamwork will only continue to grow as I reread the next volume and then move on to the books in the series I haven’t read yet.

Rating reviewed 12/26/2022.

4 stars for another well done historical fiction book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. Sebastian and his wife Hero(married in the previous book) are about to go on a honeymoon when they are notified that Hero's friend Gabrielle Tennyson has been found murdered. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, agrees to help solve the murder at the request of his friend Sir Henry Lovejoy, the Bow Street magistrate in charge of the investigation. Devlin has helped Lovejoy before and because he is an aristocrat and heir to the Earl of Hendon, he can ask questions of other aristocrats that Lovejoy can't in England of 1812..
There are some false leads, and Devlin is attacked several times(always miraculously surviving). But the murder is solved. Devlin's complicated relationship with his wife and her father are explored. Why they got married is explained in book 6. Devlin's loathing of Hero's father Lord Jarvis is also explained in previous books. To say more would be a spoiler for previous books.
Some quotes:
"No man in England was more powerful than Jarvis. His kinship with the King might be distant, but without Jarvis's ruthless brilliance and steady wisdom, the House of Hanover would have fallen long ago and the Hanovers knew it."
For the benefit of my GR friend Karla, I'm including a description of 1 of Hero's outfits:
"Today she wore an elegant carriage gown of emerald satin trimmed with rows of pintucks down the skirt and a spray of delicate yellow roses embroidered on each sleeve."
This was a library book.

Once again a GREAT read. I stayed up an hour later than I should have last night finishing this. I really enjoy this series. Sabastian and Hero's story continues to develop (and I assume much more in books to come) amidst a mystery that I didn't see the resolution to until the end and quite a bit of action. This book also has a healthy cast of characters who hopefully will continue to make appearances (well at least those who didn't die) and leaves the reader guessing about a few things for the next in the series.

I really liked this one for the relationship between the main characters: Devlin and Hero are navigating the early days of their marriage, and what it means in terms of loyalty and trust, and yes, love. I like that they are both willing to put the work in their marriage, and that they try to communicate, even though they're thwarted by the external events.

Four and a half stars

Time doesn't elapse very quickly between books in this series. I think the eight months between books three and four have been the longest stretch of time so far. This time we're dealing with the shortest time interval as only four days have passed since the end of the last book, an ending that saw Sebastian and Hero facing a new, scary, and exciting future.

The murder victim this time is/was a good friend of Hero's so it's a given that she and Sebastian will investigate. Whether or not they do it together, however, is the question. The feelings between Sebastian and Hero are deepening and I am loving seeing them both slowly realize it. It's a sure bet that neither one would have ever admitted to seeing this coming. But even as deepening emotions start to weave themselves into an already established physical attraction, there is still a certain level of wariness between them. No one knows better than Hero about the animosity that exists between Sebastian and her father, Lord Jarvis. One gets the feeling that Jarvis is just waiting for the right opportunity to crush Sebastian once and for all and Hero finds herself caught between these two important men in her life. Jarvis casts a long shadow in this fledgling relationship and whether or not it can survive divided loyalties is something that neither Sebastian or Hero can easily answer.

"He wanted to tell her she was also a part of why he intended to be careful,that he'd realized how important she was to him even as he'd felt himself losing her without ever having actually made her his."

It seems obvious to me however, that Hero has brought a sense of peace and happiness to Sebastian's life - or at least his home life - that has been sorely missing. I love his habit of coming upon Hero unawares and just taking a few moments to watch her doing ordinary things, as if it amazes him. Just lovely. And the ending, again, leaves me excited to see what comes next.

The mystery itself pulls on various Arthurian legends as well as the usual issues of the (then) current political landscape. Once again, I think things get a bit murky in the middle but it all evens out in the end. And if I'm honest, it doesn't bother me because the main draw here for me is just seeing how the various characters interact with each other. It's the human drama that makes me invest. The rest is just nice window dressing. And since I am wholly invested in seeing the relationships between Sebastian and Hero, and Sebastian and Hendon, evolve...I am in for the long haul.

Upping it to five stars upon re-read. My original review here.