Where the Dead Lie

By: C.S Harris
Published Year: 2017
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): London, 1813. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is no stranger to the dark side of the city, but he's never seen anything like this: the brutalized body of a 15-year-old boy dumped into a makeshift grave on the grounds of an abandoned factory. One of London's many homeless children, Benji Thatcher was abducted and tortured before his murder—and his younger sister is still missing. Few in authority care about a street urchin's fate, but Sebastian refuses to let this killer go unpunished. Uncovering a disturbing pattern of missing children, Sebastian is drawn into a shadowy, sadistic world. As he follows a grim trail that leads from the writings of the debauched Marquis de Sade to the city's most notorious brothels, he comes to a horrifying realization: Someone from society's upper echelon is preying upon the city's most vulnerable. And though dark, powerful forces are moving against him, Sebastian will risk his reputation and his life to keep more innocents from harm.

First Impressions

One of the first books I received for review was the 11th book in this series, When Falcons Fall. I enjoyed it and liked that it was a bit different from other mysteries that I had read. When I was asked if I wanted to review the next book, I was looking forward to it. Based on covers alone, however, I would not have started this series. My friend and I often refer to them as vampire romance novel covers.

What I thought

In this novel, Sebastian St. Cyr is back in London and gets involved in finding the murderer of the poor children of the streets. While it starts out with a single murder, he soon finds out that this has been going on for years and they uncover multiple bodies.

One for the differences between this book and the last one is that there are a lot more established characters. I haven’t read books 1-10, so I don’t really know anything about those established characters. I think that book 11 was easier to read without the other books than this one. There are a lot of characters in these novels and with all of their old and regal names it makes it a little difficult to keep track of who’s who.

I liked that the mystery was following a serial killer and that it was of poor kids who no one really cared about until Sebastian St Cyr cared about them. I’m not crazy about his technique for investigation. It seemed like he was wandering around aimlessly and any time that someone suggested a suspect he would go running to that person and accuse them. He didn’t often wait to find evidence and then question his suspect. I was also disappointed by the lack of action on Hero’s part in this story.

In the last novel, Hero was a big help in the investigation and I liked that there was a strong woman in a novel that took place in the 1800s. Sebastian used Hero as a partner and sounding board and her opinion mattered in the last investigation. In this one, she had her own story and wasn’t really involved with the murders at all.

I definitely preferred the last novel to this one. After the last book I wanted to go back and read the other ones, but my curiosity isn’t as piqued now. Maybe that’s because I haven’t read the previous novels and there is a lot more history in this one. If you enjoy the other books in the series, then you will enjoy this one.