The grisly murder of a West Indies slave owner and the reappearance of a dangerous enemy from Sebastian St. Cyr’s past put C. S. Harris’s “troubled but compelling antiheroâ€* to the ultimate test in this taut, thrilling entrée in the acclaimed, national bestselling historical mystery series.
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London, 1813. The decapitation of a wealthy plantation owner at Bloody Bridge draws Sebastian St. Cyr into a macabre and perilous investigation. The discovery near the body of a lead coffin strap bearing the inscription KING CHARLES, 1648 suggests a link between this killing and the beheading of the seventeenth-century monarch. Equally troubling, the victim’s kinship to the current Home Secretary draws the notice of Sebastian’s father-in-law, Lord Jarvis, who will exploit any means to pursue his own clandestine ends.
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Working with his wife, Hero, Sebastian amasses a list of suspects who range from an eccentric curiosity collector to the brother of a brilliantly observant spinster named Jane Austen.
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But as one murder follows another, it is the connection between the victims and ruthless former army officer Lord Oliphant that raises the stakes. Once, Oliphant nearly destroyed Sebastian in a horrific act of betrayal. Now he poses a threat not only to Sebastian but to everything—and everyone—Sebastian holds dear.