Where the Dead Lie (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Book 12) - Kindle edition by Harris, C. S.. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

This book is incredible. My biggest complaint is the cost. This is the highest I have paid for an e-book. That being said this book has action and adventure. The basic story is about sexual child abuse in the form of sadism. A difficult subject. It is done with care and compassion. The main characters become aware of the throwaway kids, those that were abandoned by parents, society and the justice system. The author did a great job of depicting the abuse without graph details. She tells enough to give us the idea. The main characters appreciate the things that they have and the responsibility they have to their family and their servants. We see this vividly between Tom and Sebastian. The story has resolution and yet some villains slip through the cracks. The baby is growing up and Tom is maturing. I am anxious to see what happens in the next book. Will it be a continuation of this or something completely different? This is a mildly dark story that makes you think while you enjoy the suspense. The characters are complex and well-developed. Sebastian continues to rely on his old friends as well as the ones he has made along the way. His relationship with his own father is developing and changing. Hero's mother appears in this book and we get a glimpse of her relationship with her mother. Overall an excellent book and well worth a reread.

Where the Dead Lie is another great installment in Harris’s Sebastian St. Cyr mystery series.As the book opens, a squatter at an abandoned factory catches people in the act of burying the act of a teenage boy who was raped, tortured, and then murdered. Sebastian’s investigation turns up the fact that several orphaned and homeless young people in the poorer parts of London have gone missing over the past few years, and his fears that they have also been murdered are eventually confirmed. Sebastian struggles to figure out who the culprit might be, given that the victims are seemingly chosen at random. Then, when he narrows down the suspect list, he faces a new problem, because the killer is likely a wealthy upper class gentleman—and who will hold a gentleman accountable if the victims are considered worthless by society?I don’t typically read mysteries involving serial killers, and that’s what this book is, so it didn’t grip me quite as much as some of the others in the series. The author is an excellent writer, though, so I was willing to ignore my personal bias in return for the pleasure of spending time immersed in her Regency London world with Sebastian and his investigations. In the end, the mystery is only partially resolved, so that sets up some potential future action that I’m interested in seeing play out.As always, Sebastian’s family ties play an important role in the story. His niece gets drawn into an imprudent relationship that is likely to have consequences. In addition, his wife Hero suffers a bereavement. (And this is just speculation, but that particular death seems awfully fishy to me. Fodder for another book?)If you are a fan of the series, this book is a must-read. I would also encourage anyone who enjoys novels set in the Regency period to give the series a try (starting with the first book), even if they don’t normally read mysteries. Harris does a terrific job of bringing the era to life, and there’s enough emphasis on Sebastian’s personal life throughout the books that, to me, they transcend the mystery genre.An eARC of this novel was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

12th book! The writing is as impeccable and rich and well-researched as always. All characters major and minor and fascinating, with their own histories. We have intrigue and social issues and historical incidents and personages and personal interactions... Action, danger and murder, of course. All this remains a staple of one of the best historical mystery series around. I'd highly recommend a read--starting from the beginning.This time Sebastian becomes involved in a murder that the authorities have ignored: the death of a child abandoned on the streets to survive. Sebastian and his associates are shocked by the cruelty of the death (torture and rape before death), but others see this as just one of many throwaway lives--poor, disenfranchised, worthless, of no account.While the books immediately previous to this involved some major historical events and personages, this mystery harked back to some earlier ones where Jervis, Sebastian's powerful and ruthless father-in-law, moved behind the scenes and possibly had too much of a hand in the events. And Sebastian is back to having to sort out the relationship with his father.The historical personage of this book is not a major player, but the author of a book that is mentoned: 120 Days of Sodom by the Marquis de Sade. As always, some interesting little tidbits are revealed. I love how Harris works in stuff like that!Unusual for the series... there are some things left unresolved--mystery-wise. There have been threads that have been running through the series, of course, but usually more to do with Sebastian's personal life. Oh--the mystery is solved--never worry! Just some threads left for the future.This book is perhaps not my favorite, but still a very worthy addition to the series, and well worth reading.