Book Log #101: What Angels Fear, by C.S. Harris

[annathepiper]

The blurb copy on What Angels Fear, the first of C.S. Harris' Sebastian St. Cyr series, says that if you are a fan of the Julian Kestrel series, then you'll like this one too. And it's really rather on the money. I do like me some Regency-era mystery, and like the redoubtable Julian Kestrel, Sebastian St. Cyr is a nobleman of dubious reputation and a mysterious history. He's got the obligatory relationship with a woman of equally dubious reputation, and the plucky young sidekick off the streets. And this book has your basic "nobleman must clear his name when he's accused of a murder he didn't commit" plot, which, along with politics and duels of honor and chases through grubby London streets, is generally all around fun.

The book's not without flaws. Harris' prose doesn't quite have the same elan as Kate Ross', so St. Cyr doesn't quite manage Kestrel for handsome-and-dashingness, and there's a bit too many 21st-century mores coming out of 19th-century mouths. But it's good for an engaging middle-weight read nonetheless. Three stars.

Comments

[bloody-keri.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I'm intrigued. I've wondered if there were some good Regency-era mysteries out there. Victorian mysteries abound, but Regency...not so much! I need to look for this. Who is Kate Ross? Is that another one?

[annathepiper]

Kate Ross wrote four books about a pretty nifty nobleman/detective type named Julian Kestrel, yeah. There are only four of them, unfortunately; she died from cancer before she could write more. I quite liked them. :)

Also not half-bad: T.A. Banks' two books, and if you don't mind the schtick of Jane Austen (the actual Jane Austen) as a mystery-solving character, Stephanie Barron's series is good too.

[bloody-keri.livejournal.com]

I love the Stephanie Barron series! I think it's terrific. That is SERIOUS COMFORT READING for me! (LOL) Not only do I love the Regency period, but I'm a Jane Austen fanatic! It's a little schticky, like you say, but I sure get a kick out of Jane as amateur sleuth!

[annathepiper]

Oh nifty! Yeah, I've been slurping those up with great glee. I love me some Jane Austen, and I've found that Barron captures her style beautifully. I think I'm a book or two behind at this point, though; I've got a recent one still waiting on the To Read shelf, but I'm pretty sure another has come out in the interim.