When Gods Die

The young wife of an aging marquis is found dead in the Prince Regent's arms at Brighton, wearing a necklace that Sebastian St. Cyr recognizes as one last seen with his own mother when she disappeared. Sebastian is drawn into an investigation that moves from a marquis's bedroom to the highest circles of Regency society, uncovering a conspiracy that implicates the monarchy itself and forces him to confront what he does not yet know about his mother's fate. C.S. Harris's second Sebastian entry deepens the series' central mystery while delivering a fully resolved case.

Davina Porter establishes the series' voice with full command in this early entry, giving Sebastian the right combination of aristocratic assurance and personal damage. The Brighton setting and its political currents come through vividly, and Porter manages the dual investigation, the murder and the longer search for Sebastian's mother, without losing either thread. At just over ten hours, this is a solid entry in the long-running series.