What Cannot Be Said

Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries, Book 19

By: C.S. Harris

Narrated by: Amy Scanlon

Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

A seemingly idyllic picnic ends in a macabre murder that echoes a pair of slayings fourteen years earlier in this riveting new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of Who Cries for the Lost.

July 1815: The Prince Regent’s grandiose plans to celebrate Napoléon’s recent defeat at Waterloo are thrown into turmoil when Lady McInnis and her daughter Emma are found brutally murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in a chilling imitation of the stone effigies once found atop medieval tombs. Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy immediately turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help with the investigation. For, as Devlin discovers, Lovejoy’s own wife and daughter were also murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in the same bizarre postures.

A traumatized ex-soldier was hanged for their killings. So is London now confronting a malicious copyist? Or did Lovejoy help send an innocent man to the gallows?

Aided by his wife, Hero, who knew Lady McInnis from her work with poor orphans, Devlin finds himself exploring a host of unsavory characters, from a vicious chimney sweep to a smiling but decidedly lethal baby farmer.

Also coming under increasing scrutiny is Sir Ivo McInnis himself, along with a wounded Waterloo veteran—who might have been Laura McInnis’s lover—and a charismatic young violinist who moonlights as a fencing master and might have formed a dangerous relationship with Emma. But when Sebastian’s investigation turns toward man-about-town Basil Rhodes, he quickly draws the fury of the Palace, for Rhodes is well known as the Regent’s favorite illegitimate son.

Then Lady McInnis’s young niece and nephew are targeted by the killer, and two more women are discovered murdered and arranged in similar postures. With his own life increasingly in danger, Sebastian finds himself drawn inexorably toward a conclusion far darker and more horrific than anything he could have imagined.

©2024 Two Talers, LLC (P)2024 Recorded Books

Plot

I love this series! Never disappoints especially now that one knows the characters and how they evolve

What a storyteller!

Fabulous performance telling a well written story full of suspense. I couldn’t stop listening. Great!

The terrible narrator

I really enjoy this series. But the narrator is terrible All the voices sounded the same.

Missing Davina

Great story, good narrator and no offense to her but Hero is not the same Hero without Davina.

A winner!

What a strong entry in this series!! Harris tends to group related plot lines over 2-3 novels. This latest is the third of the grouping set in 1815.

An excellent mystery and lots of Sebastian & Hero time! Harris also seems to be seeding future plot twists: in the inevitable confrontation between father-in-law Jarvis and son-in-law Sebastian and their spouses; how best to parent the two young boys in the viscount’s family; the continued aging of Lord Hendon and his duchess sister (I truly hope either the Earl or the Duchess will still be alive when Sebastian’s parenting mystery is resolved).

Looking forward to the climactic crisis of the Year Without a Summer in 1816.

Thank you, dear author! And thanks to the publisher for a wonderful new narrator! RIP Jenny Sterlin - so sad!

Great Historical Fiction Series

This 19th book in the Sebastian St Cyr series was very well written. Some of my favorite characters took a backseat in this one But the mystery was well constructed with a host of suspects. And every time I read one of these books I learn more about life in England storing the Regency time period.

Wonderful Narrator

Really brings the book alive. Amazed at the talent for different voices throughout. Story is so full of twists you don’t know who done it until the author tells you.

Another great episode

Love this series and the characters! The ending to this one was a real surprise. Can’t wait for the next one! Please keep this narrator…. She was outstanding. She did such an excellent job with all the characters. I will be looking for more of her books!

New narrator!

It took a while to get used to the narrator’s voice and inflections, but the story was compelling. I didn’t guess the killer at all!

As Long As She Writes, I'll Read!

This is another great addition to the series. I love that each is a fabulously dark stand alone book, but also a series in that we learn more about the characters history with each new book. C.S.H. books are set in the Revolutionary War, but as I read them, I always feel a faint echo of our present times. I initially felt jarred by the new narrator, but that is just because we are creatures of habit. Once I started listening I realized this narrator is very good. Change can be hard, but to those reviewers that criticized this narrator I say, accept change, wish the previous narrator good luck in her retirement, and sit back for an enjoyable listen to this new great narrator.