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Home / Series / Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery

Series

Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery

The Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries follow Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a former cavalry officer and intelligence agent who investigates murders in Regency Britain. Beginning in 1811, his cases carry him from royal palaces and Mayfair drawing rooms to prisons, docks, rookeries and country villages, where violent crimes expose the connections between aristocratic privilege, government secrecy, poverty and the long war with Napoleonic France.

Sebastian works increasingly closely with Hero Jarvis, whose interest in social reform and independent investigations make her both his partner and his wife. Across the sequence, individual mysteries are resolved while continuing questions about Sebastian's parentage, wartime betrayal and political enemies develop against the fall of Napoleon, Waterloo and the economic unrest of post-war Britain.

Reading order

Books in this series (22 books)

When Gods Die cover

#2 – When Gods Die

C. S. Harris

A young marchioness is murdered during a royal gathering and discovered in the arms of the Prince Regent. The necklace around her throat once belonged to Sebastian's mother, who was believed to have died at sea, giving him a personal reason to investigate the victim's movements…

Why Mermaids Sing cover

#3 – Why Mermaids Sing

C. S. Harris

The mutilated bodies of young men from prominent London families are left in public places with strange objects in their mouths. When another victim is found beside the House of Lords, Sebastian is asked to interpret the ritual pattern before the killer claims the next heir.…

Where Shadows Dance cover

#6 – Where Shadows Dance

C. S. Harris

Paul Gibson buys a cadaver from body snatchers and discovers that the supposedly natural death of Foreign Office clerk Alexander Ross was caused by a stiletto wound. Because Gibson obtained the body illegally, Sebastian must investigate without revealing either the murder or the source of the…

When Maidens Mourn cover

#7 – When Maidens Mourn

C. S. Harris

Sebastian and Hero's honeymoon is interrupted when Hero's friend Gabrielle Tennyson is found murdered in a boat at Camlet Moat. Gabrielle's two young cousins have disappeared, and the household's conflicting accounts make it unclear whether the children were taken, killed or hidden. The couple investigate Arthurian…

What Darkness Brings cover

#8 – What Darkness Brings

C. S. Harris

Russell Yates, the privateer who married Sebastian's former lover Kat Boleyn, is found beside the murdered gem dealer Benjamin Eisler. Yates insists he was framed, and Sebastian agrees to find the killer before the evidence sends him to the gallows. A missing blue diamond leads through…

Why Kings Confess cover

#9 – Why Kings Confess

C. S. Harris

A French doctor is mutilated and murdered in a London slum, while the badly injured Alexi Sauvage is found nearby. Sebastian knows Alexi from a wartime disaster and discovers that the dead physician belonged to a secret French delegation exploring peace between Napoleon and Britain. The…

Who Buries the Dead cover

#10 – Who Buries the Dead

C. S. Harris

Plantation owner Stanley Preston is found decapitated at Bloody Bridge, with a coffin strap marked for King Charles I lying near the body. Preston's family ties to the Home Secretary and his wealth from West Indian slavery ensure that both the government and Sebastian's father-in-law take…

Where the Dead Lie cover

#12 – Where the Dead Lie

C. S. Harris

The body of homeless child Benji Thatcher is discovered after his abduction, and his younger sister remains missing. When officials show little interest, Sebastian traces the children's movements and finds evidence that other vulnerable boys and girls have disappeared in similar circumstances. The investigation leads from…

Why Kill the Innocent cover

#13 – Why Kill the Innocent

C. S. Harris

During the severe winter of 1814, musician Jane Ambrose is found murdered in a snowdrift. Her employment in the household of Princess Charlotte alarms the palace, which tries to prevent questions about the heir presumptive and the rival factions seeking to control her future. Sebastian and…

Who Slays the Wicked cover

#14 – Who Slays the Wicked

C. S. Harris

Lord Ashworth is found brutally murdered only months after Sebastian failed to prove his involvement in crimes against London children. Ashworth's estranged wife Stephanie, Sebastian's young niece, has just survived the birth of twins and immediately becomes the most convenient suspect. Sebastian examines the dead man's…

When Blood Lies cover

#17 – When Blood Lies

C. S. Harris

Sebastian and Hero travel to Paris in March 1815 to find his long-missing mother, Sophie, only for Sebastian to discover her dying near the Île de la Cité. She had been living under an assumed name with a former Napoleonic marshal now serving the restored Bourbon…

What Cannot Be Said cover

#19 – What Cannot Be Said

C. S. Harris

Soon after Waterloo, Lady McInnis and her daughter are found murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies arranged like figures on medieval tombs. The staging repeats the unsolved murder of magistrate Henry Lovejoy's wife and daughter fourteen years earlier, for which a traumatised former soldier was hanged.…

Who Will Remember cover

#20 – Who Will Remember

C. S. Harris

In August 1816, crop failure, relentless rain and post-war unemployment leave London close to unrest. Lord Preston Farnsworth is found hanging upside down in a ruined chapel, posed like the Hanged Man tarot card, and an orphan who led Sebastian to the body vanishes. The dead…

Where Are the Wise cover

#22 – Where Are the Wise

C. S. Harris

In November 1817, anonymous satirist Juliet MacKenzie is found murdered in a Covent Garden brothel. Her caricatures attacked influential figures in society and government, giving Sebastian a long list of suspects among people close to the Prince Regent and those damaged by her private secrets. A…