As he edges closer to the truth-and one murder follows another-he confronts a conspiracy that imperils those nearest him and threatens to bring down the monarchy.
Comment: This is the second installment in the Sebastian St Cyr series and it takes place just a little bit after the events in book #1. It continues to follow the investigations of aristocrat Sebastian, who succeeded in the peninsular war and who is embarking on this career for personal reasons too...
In this second story Sebastian needs to discover who would want to compromise the prince Regent by leaving a dead woman in his chambers. The woman is a marchioness and she had a dagger on her back, although that wasn't what killed her, but the whole thing is enough to cause worry among those who need to maintain the regent's public image. Sebastian wasn't really interested in getting into this, but a detail convinces him, which is the fact the dead woman had a necklace which once belonged to Sebastian's mother. The question is that his mother had that necklace when she went missing, years ago...
Finished the first book, I had some doubts regarding the vibe of this series, for two reasons: first, the story had been slightly more sad/depressing as I imagined and, second, I had been reading similar books in the genre with my buddy read friend and, by comparison, that first book felt sadder. Going into this second one, I hoped things would be more bearable, and more captivating.
I think that there was definite improvement in the general sense of the story, mostly because I kind of told myself to ignore certain details, such as the fact Sebastian is being manipulated by one or two characters (it would depend on one's interpretation of that word, but it is the one I think of) and that the investigations are slowly revealing a side of Sebastian I like, for instance, how he tries to help and care for Tom, the little boy he "rescued" and who works for him as his tiger.
The elements I still feel a little suspicious of are related to Sebastian's personal life. His relationship with his family (mainly father and older sister) are complex but mostly negative. I feel sad that he can't seem to have a good enough relationship with them, although with his father it is a little more than cordiality. Now, with so many books yet to come, I hope this is due to his mother's disappearance and that some things are just decoys, which means something might change in the future. I hope so, because while Sebastian still feels rather aloof, I hope he can get some happiness
I'm not a fan of his love interest either but regarding this I know something will change at some point... unfortunately, I already saw something I shouldn't and I know his love interest will change.... I'm here for the journey, though, and hope this will mean a more rewarding emotional experience for him too. Thinking about the love interest now, though, it can only have a sad end, I suppose...
The case Sebastian investigated was as interesting as I assumed it would be and it actually had more details and secondary characters playing a key role than what i thought. I have to wonder at how the author will keep up the investigations fresh for more than twenty books... Still, regarding the identity of the killer, I never suspected that person and I think the web and the red herrings were quite engaging and offered an interesting perspective on other things. Clearly, the author want to do social commentary as well, as the series goes on....
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