Why Kill the Innocent

Why Kill the Innocent (A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery)- C. S. Harris
Berkley Publishing
Release Date: April 3, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚

Synopsis: London, 1814. As a cruel winter holds the city in its icy grip, the bloody body of a beautiful young musician is found half-buried in a snowdrift. Jane Ambrose's ties to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne, panic the palace, which moves quickly to shut down any investigation into the death of the talented pianist. But Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife Hero refuse to allow Jane's murderer to escape justice. 

Untangling the secrets of Jane's world leads Sebastian into a maze of dangerous treachery where each player has his or her own unsavory agenda and no one can be trusted. As the Thames freezes over and the people of London pour onto the ice for a Frost Fair, Sebastian and Hero find their investigation circling back to the palace and building to a chilling crescendo of deceit and death . . .

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1814 was notable for one of the coldest winters London had seen in years.  Supplies were unable to get through roads from farms, prices of basic goods like coal skyrocketed, and the Thames froze over to allow for a Frost Fair.  So it should come as no surprise when a woman turns up dead, found under a blanket of snow. But the woman didn't freeze to death, and the person who found the body isn't one to let a suspicious death go with no comment.  Sebastian and Hero St. Cyr may be English nobility, but both have a deep moral need to see justice whether the victim is rich or poor.  When it turns out that the victim, Jane Ambrose, taught piano to Princess Charlotte, the coverups begin and it becomes impossible to tell if Jane died because of her connection to the royal family or for something else entirely.  

I found both Sebastian and Hero to be well done, likable characters.  Both were believable in their desire to see justice done.  Hero's research into articles exposing the difficulties of poor and working class families whose men have been impressed into the Navy give the reader the gritty, dark reality behind the glittering Regency era.  While they didn't always connect smoothly to the rest of the narrative, I thought they were powerful, well-written, and clearly well researched scenes.  Harris does a wonderful job in bringing London to life and immersing the reader in its sounds and smells, and her descriptions of the famous Frost Fair on the Thames make you feel as if you are there with the characters, walking on the ice.

The mystery surrounding Jane's death keeps you guessing the entire way.  As soon as you feel sure her death must relate to her royal connections, something is discovered to make you think it was a domestic dispute with an abusive husband turned fatal.  Then a new discovery shows how easily Jane could have discovered something political that got her killed.  I always enjoy when I don't see the answer to the mystery from the beginning, but discover everything alongside the characters.

I have to admit that as well written as I found Harris' London, I was disappointed in her characters.  Only Sebastian and Hero were more than one dimensional people.  It's possible other recurring characters are fleshed out in earlier books and simply weren't important enough to this one for Harris to pay much attention to here- although if she can go into the details and descriptions of a public execution that doesn't directly effect the main plot I think she could have spent a little more time trying to bring other characters to life.  However, overall I found Why Kill the Innocent a good book, with enough shadowy characters and motives to keep me guessing until the end, and a vividly recreated London that surpassed many other books I've read.              

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review