This series is a recent discovery and the latest entry doesn't disappoint. Set in an 1814 London winter so cold that the Thames freezes over, Sebastian St. Cyr investigates the murder of a woman with ties to the royal palace.

I have read the first book in this series and really enjoyed it. So was very interested to read this book and see what the hero has been up to and how he would solve this mystery. I found myself a little disappointed, however.
The mystery involved quite a bit of politics which at times could get a little confusing. There were a lot of lords and newspaper journalists and Whigs and governesses and I had a hard time keeping everyone straight. Some of the characters felt a bit superfluous, especially with the way that Sebastian goes about "detecting." He seemed to just get some secret information about a "suspect," go hunt him or her down somewhere in London, and then accuse that person of killing Jane Ambrose based on the tidbit he'd just received. Then that person would say, :No! I would never kill her! Didn't you know about _______?" And then it would either go one of two ways: the suspect would say, "That person threatened her/accused her/hated her/etc. and you should go ask him/her about it," or "You have no idea how deep this goes. You should stay out of this before you or someone else gets hurt." And then Sebastian would go hunt down the new suspect and the very same thing would happen: "You killed her because______." And then that suspect would say, "No I didn't!" And as soon as Sebastian discovered another piece of information pointed to someone else, he was off to accuse that person of murder. It got a bit tedious and repetitious.
I did enjoy the insight in the members of the Royal Family and the descriptions of the Frost Fair. The subplot (? maybe just a tangent?) about impressment was interesting but I'm not sure how that fit in to the story.
Although this was not my favorite Sebastian St. Cyr book, I will not let it keep me from reading other books in the series. I know that Sebastian is a better detective than this and does not usually run around London accusing one person after another of murder based upon whatever information he's stumbled upon that day. I do not think that I would recommend this book to someone who is new to the series, however.

Note: There are necessarily spoilers for previous books in this series.

The Sebastian St. Cyr historical crime fiction series began in 1811, the year that George, Prince of Wales (known by the public as “Prinny”) began his nine-year tenure as Regent of the British Monarchy. (A prince regent is a prince who rules a monarchy in the place of a monarch who is still the titular king but has been deemed unfit for any reason, such as age, or physical or mental incapacity. In this case, the Prince of Wales was standing in for his father George III, thought to be mad. On the death of his father in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV.)

“Prinny” mostly elicited “sentiments ranging from contempt to disgust.” He was “endlessly self-indulgent, notoriously dishonest, and reviled. . . .”

In this thirteenth book in the series, Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, the main protagonist, is now in his early thirties. In the first book, he was suspected of a murder he did not commit, and had to become something of a Sherlock Holmes to find the real murderer to save his own skin.

In subsequent books, he was consulted on murders that involved the nobility, because he had an entrée into the upper level of society that would have been denied to the regular police. He agreed because the thought of anybody stealing away someone else’s a life was an abomination to him, especially after the traumatic instances of unjust murder he witnessed in the army. He still felt guilt over these deaths, even though he could not have prevented any of them. He retained a fierce commitment to the pursuit of justice.

Devlin is aided by the counsel of his friend, the surgeon Paul Gibson, who serves as a Watson to St. Cyr’s Holmes, as well as by Sir Henry Lovejoy, now a "Bow Street Runner" (detective) who has become a friend of Devlin’s. Devlin also has his young horse handler Tom, a former street urchin, to do reconnaissance work for him. And in an increasing capacity, his wife, Hero Devlin, helps him in his investigative work.

Hero has an “in” with the nobility via her father, the powerful Charles, Lord Jarvis, “the real power behind the Hanovers’ wobbly throne.” Jarvis is dedicated to protecting the House of Hanover, even if it means covering up some of the worst crimes of the realm. Hero’s courage and obstinacy match her father's, and she isn’t afraid to confront him when it appears he might be involved in such crimes himself. (One of her usual ways to greet her father now is “Did you kill ____?”) Also, because of Jarvis, Hero is well acquainted with many of the powerful families in society, especially the women, giving her access even Sebastian doesn’t have.

This story begins in January 1814 when London was suffering through a horrifically cold winter. It was so cold the Thames River actually froze, and a "Frost Fair" was set up on the ice.

In this forbidding weather, Hero Devlin was out walking with Alexi Sauvage, a doctor who was the lover of Paul Gibson and also joined him in his work. Alexi had taken Hero to interview a woman in the poor district of Clerkenwell for an article Hero was writing about the hardships of families of men impressed by the Royal Navy. On their return, Hero stumbled over a dead body half-buried in the snow, and it was someone Hero knew: Jane Ambrose, the piano teacher of Princess Charlotte, the Regent’s daughter.

Alexi pointed out that although Jane had a severe head injury, there was no blood around her, suggesting she had been killed elsewhere. But both women knew there was little hope the death would be officially investigated; the palace could not afford even a hint of scandal to touch Princess Charlotte.

This situation did not stop Devlin and Hero from looking into it, however. As in previous books, because of the identity of victim, the potential perpetrators were many, and some of them were an integral part of the political machinations of the Kingdom. In this way, the author is able to educate readers about the history of the era.

As usual, Jarvis warned Sebastian to mind his own business, saying “This maudlin obsession of yours with vague and essentially useless philosophical constructs is beyond tiresome. Justice comes from God.” In addition, Sebastian knew that Jarvis would not hesitate to eliminate any threats to what he saw as the welfare of the monarchy, even if that threat was embodied by the husband of his wife and father of his grandson.

The future of Princess Charlotte happened to be a point of great contention in the Empire at that time:

“It was an open secret that the Prince Regent was eager to see his daughter married and that the needle-thin, awkward, and decidedly unattractive William, Hereditary Prince of Orange. . . was his favored suitor.”

It was also an open secret that Orange was gay and would not make a very good husband for Charlotte. But the liaison was thought to be politically favorable by the Tories, and anathema to the Whigs, who sought to prevent it. Might Jane, who had the freedom to move about denied to Charlotte, be engaged in some activity related to this arrangement?

Jane also had various pupils from the ruling class besides the Princess. One was the daughter of Nathan Rothschild, the German financier. Sebastian found out she was suddenly dismissed several weeks before, and Jane seemed frightened about something.

Rothschild, an émigré from Frankfort, had managed to become one of the richest men in Britain. The author maintains that Rothschild was more than a financier; he was also heavily involved in smuggling, and "at that level smuggling was a deadly serious, highly lucrative, and dangerous business." If in the process of teaching Anna Rothschild, Sebastian speculated, Jane Ambrose had accidentally overheard or stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to know, he could see Nathan Rothschild or his associates ordering her killed.

Of course, Jane’s personal life yielded potential guilty parties as well, giving the author an opportunity to expose the gender disparities of the time. Jane was an accomplished musical composer, but this was not an acceptable occupation for women, so male counterparts of these talented females, whether brothers or husbands, tended to claim the music as their own. Jane’s husband was in debt, and Jane’s compositions (peddled as his own) supported him. But he was rumored to have had a mistress, and if Jane had found out, she might have threatened their arrangement. She had recently been reading the work of Mary Wollstonecraft.

[Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. She is best known for "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792), in which she argued that women are not naturally inferior to men, but appear to be only because they lack education, and they should be treated equally.]

But most of the evidence about why Jane was killed points to her last days, when she was seen going back and forth between the residences of Charlotte and Prinny's estranged wife, Caroline, Princess of Wales. Caroline was also opposed to the marriage of Charlotte to Orange.

As Sebastian and Hero close in on the killer, their own lives are in danger once again.

Evaluation: I love the recurring characters in this series and their evolving interactions. In additions, one always learns a great deal of history from the stories, with a number of crimes thrown in to add tension and interest.

She got me again. I almost never seem to know "who done it" until Sebastian figures it out. In this book a young woman is killed and Sebastian sets out to figure out what happened and why. As usual there are many plots and a large cast of suspects but it isn't until his wife is endangered that Sebastian puts the pieces together and solves the riddle. The reason behind Jane's death is beyond tragic and the author incorporates social issues of the time into her narrative giving these books a very real and gritty feel. Plus there is a hint about Sebastian's real paternity, which has been a recurring theme in the series. This book was another great entry into the series and I am waiting with bated breath for the next adventure of Sebastian St. Cyr.

I love historical fiction, and this book did not disappoint! What an amazing author, to be able to weave so much true history in a wonderful story. Being an American my English monarchy history and customs is sketchy at best, and I had no idea of the machinations and assassinations that actually took place in all aspects of the monarchy. I've always loved the Charles Todd series and the Anne Perry series, but I had not read a book from this early in English history, and I will definitely be looking for more. I especially like the postword that listed the events and told just how authentic they were. I would never have known what was actually true if it had not been written. I give this book five stars and encourage anyone who likes to learn their history from novels to add it to their reading list asap.

We always buy C.S. Harris for our library. She writes compelling historical mysteries focusing on the darker side of Regency London.