A very good mystery.

An evil man is murdered in his bed; St. Cyr only wants to find the killer in order to ensure public safety, not to punish him or her for the murder. Set amidst the royal machinations of the Napoleonic wars, and Russia meddling with England's alliances-through-possible-marriages, along with Hero's ongoing article series about the different ways London's poor eke out their livings.

Mysteries aren't my usual genre, but lately I have read several that I have really enjoyed, [b:Who Slays the Wicked|40786920|Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr, #14)|C.S. Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561560280l/40786920._SY75_.jpg|63497985] is certainly one of them. The story also satisfied my new interest in historical fiction, with a grisly murder driving the plot forward through the politics of early 1800's England and Russia.

Not realizing this was the fourteenth book in a series featuring the sleuthing abilities of Sebastian St. Cyr, I devoured the book in large chunks without any drawbacks. It does contain many references to the book just prior, so I do not feel I need to read that one, but otherwise, the characters and their on-going relationships are well explained and set out.

I was very impressed by the extremely well-written dialogue and the amount of information that was imparted to the reader this way. The characters are solid and realistic, following their conversations was like being in the room with them. I enjoyed the pace of the story and how it unfolded, following Sebastian and his wife Hero going about business as usual for the middle aristocracy and digging up details to solve the murder at the same time. History and entertainment in the same place, what could be better?

No doubt fans of historical mystery have already encountered the trevails of Sebastian St. Cyr as he solves London's strange crimes and this installment from [a:C.S. Harris|22067|C.S. Harris|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1283051864p2/22067.jpg] is well worth reading. [b:Who Slays the Wicked|40786920|Who Slays the Wicked (Sebastian St. Cyr, #14)|C.S. Harris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561560280l/40786920._SY75_.jpg|63497985] is an energetic, well-crafted, and fun romp through George IV's London that will leave you looking forward to Sebastian's next case. I know I am!

I think this is the best one yet in this series. Good mystery, interesting family stories, fascinating regency history. If I ever find myself imagining it would have been pleasant to live in this period as anything other than a rich white man, I’ll call the multitude of travesties in this book to mind.

From the beginning of this series, there were things I liked a lot and things I didn’t. I read the first one and wasn’t rushing out to get the next one, then sometime later, read a summary listing Hero, not Kat as his wife, so I jumped back in. I was going through a stressful life event, so I just kind of settled in and binged the whole series (in part because it took like 90898 books for Simon to be born)

I realized quickly that these books are highly formulaic. Murder, don't want to solve murder, save innocents, autopsy, must solve murder, almost get murdered, kill thugs, kiss wife, talk to every character a dozen times, action fight scene, wrap up case, slight foreshadowing to the next book. I swear the author even copies and pastes entire paragraphs book to book. Especially when it comes to descriptions of characters like Paul, Kat, Herndon, and Lovejoy. I guess she expects us to be too stupid to remember who the main supporting characters are? Or isn't creative enough to introduce them in a way that's more unique?

This one was a little interesting because we finally got to see the evil Ashworth meet his end. But I get tired of the author grossing me out and throwing tons of red herrings everywhere. I'd rather read something interesting than gory. Also, I found it a little confusing why Sebastian likes Stephanie so much. She's a brat, a liar, and kinda creepy. The author introduces a whole parental rape storyline (but it's not incest because he's not her real dad), which was unnecessary. She didn't do a good job setting up Stephanie in the other books for me to care about her in this one. Also, no one is out riding a horse a month after giving birth to premature twins. Your abs are shot.

Really, the only reason I keep reading is to see Simon and waiting to see Sebastian solve Hero's mom's murder (and get rid of that witch cousin Vicky).

This is one of those series I just love. Harris rarely disappoints with these characters. It would have gotten five stars except for a few things that bugged me. I'm really hoping this doesn't fall into the same trap Perry's books did (for me it's a problem, maybe not for you) where more and more of the politics of the times start working in. Certainly Hero's father (Sebastian's so-not-biggest fan) is cousin to the King so there will be some of it. Last book was a bit too political for me. This one was much less so but there is some of it but it wasn't overbearing, having to do with the Russians trying to keep an Anglo-Dutch alliance from happening and of course Napoleon and the war. The other thing that bothered me was a lot of repetition (I'll get into that as I go).

Ashworth, the villain of the past book, is now dead, leaving Sebastian's young niece, Stephanie as a potential killer in spite of being in another of Ashworth's estates with their newborn twins. Ashworth was a sadist who loved gambling and sleeping with as many women as possible, from the high born to street whores the younger the better. He and his friends had been killing children for fun in previous books but were politically untouchable.

No one is sad to see Ashworth dead, except maybe his father and his friend Felix Page. Stephanie was glad to see him dead and Sebastian even more happy about it with the exception of the fact that Stephanie is a very good suspect especially when rumors about her and the twins come to light. It is for her sake that he investigates at all.

So many people want Ashworth dead, Sebastian has his hands full, especially when the Russian princesses, including one who also likes BDSM games (not that they were called that in those days) are linked to Ashworth both sexually and with the political games they are playing. More bodies begin piling up and the King wants this solved because Ashworth is high born (and again all the politics involved).

I always enjoy Sebastian and Hero (who spends the novel investigating the poorest of the poor, the night soil men, the pure finder and rag and bone men which helps Sebastian with clues from people no one even notices). I did get tired of every chapter him worrying that he couldn't clear Stephanie, so much repetition there. Other than that, I truly enjoyed it and can't wait to dive into the next book.

This series is just so good. And I feel like we are working up to some amazing revelations in the next book!

I simply savor each new book that comes out in this historical mystery series, and this latest one (14th) did not disappoint. In a bit of a twist, the initial murder victim here is also one of the vilest, most sadistic villains that this series has produced...so no tears over losing him! 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️ But the victims start piling up, and the perpetrator totally surprised me! 😳 I just love the way these characters have grown and developed over the years, and they always feel like family each time I make a visit!

This series is easily in my top 5 of favorites in the historical mystery category.

Another book that takes me back to the regency era, where situations are different from the one presented in my loved romances and one of the main character is used to depict how thing really were at that time, but still, even with a lot of disgusting information ;) it is a good reading and Devlin and Hero are two of my favorite couples ever.

Un altro libro che mi riporta all'epoca regency, che peró viene descritta in modo molto diverso da quanto fanno solitamente i miei adorati romanzi rosa, anzi qui uno dei personaggi principali e le sue inchieste giornalistiche, vengono usati come scusa per illustrare la realtá, in tutti i suoi disgustosi particolari, della Londra del tempo. Ciononostante resta una buona lettura e Devlin ed Hero una delle mie coppie preferite di sempre.