Now a fugitive running for his life, Sebastian calls upon his skill as an agent during the war to catch the killer and prove his own innocence. In the process, he accumulates a band of unlikely allies, including the enigmatic beauty Kat Boleyn, who broke Sebastian's heart years ago. In Sebastian's world of intrigue and espionage, nothing is as it seems, yet the truth may hold the key to the future of the British monarchy, as well as to Sebastian's own salvation....
Comment: This is another buddy read choice I've agreed to read with my friend. Historical thrillers/mysteries with hints of romance seem to be our main preference these days so we decided to bet on this one, of which this is the first installment. We have heard so well of this series, although the romance label isn't prominent here, that we decided to give it a go and I had pretty high expectations.
Sebastian St Cyr has returned from the war and he is now way more cynical than before he left. His life seems to be drifting but then a murder linked to him causes him to need to hide. However the investigation is too slow and the police is eager to charge him with the crime and this propels Sebastian to do his own investigation. As he talks to people and checks out certain things, a skill he can appreciate being good at after his spying years during the war effort, he discovers some things don't seem to match. But is he ready to learn the truth and what consequences might arise? What about reconnecting with the woman he thought he could marry but who abandoned him in the past?
This now iconic series is already on installment #20! A lot of books! Still, my friend and I embarked in this adventure hoping to become two more addicts to the series, which I kind of hope might still happen, but now that I have finished, I'll have to confess this first book wasn't as positively stunning as I imagined.
The plot is centered on the investigation of what happened to Rachel York, a well liked actress who was found murdered. Apparently, without much to link them, evidence allegedly found near the body leads the police to Sebastian and after an inconvenient moment, he is also charged of knifing a police officer, and he needs to be on the run. Of course, now Sebastian needs to clear his name and he decides to hunt for the killer himself, since the police is more concerned about a political agenda.
In this book this is quite a theme on the background. This book begins just right at the moment the Regency is about to start, and while most romance readers would link this period to incredible stories - Jane Austen too! - in this book, mrs Harris has a definitely more realistic approach. Did I like it that we have more on this and on how annoying politics can be because those who are in it act on their own interests? Not really. Many other series mention/use this as background but in here, I've found this theme to be on the way to better things.
Sebastian is a fascinating and layered character and I was rooting for him, but his unofficial and personal investigations sometimes sounded too conveniently allowed. One more reason why, whether historical or contemporary, I struggle to appreciate investigations done by civilians: would people gossip/share about specific things that easily if not for believing it's an authority asking? Still, as Sebastian connects the dots, the plot started to become more and more intriguing.
While on his investigations, he becomes friends with a little boy, one of those "street urchins" who helps him, and he reconnects with Kat, the woman he was in love with and whom he wanted to marry, but she then refused him and he left to be a spy at war, or something. Of course, the "lovers reunited" is a little bit of a trope here, but Kat has more secrets than the ones we learn and I also dislike a little that she had to be forced to have the occupation she has. I can only imagine what kind of past led her to this and that, perhaps, the future installments will see her evolve to something way better but here, not really appealing to me as a heroine.
There is a lot of tension and serious issues being discussed by many characters, but for the most part, no one except Sebastian was truly engaging. In fact, I didn't like most characters and that affected my perception of how Sebastian dealt with them all. It was as if nothing really positive/uplifting were to be found in his life and I kind of wanted more balance.
As the investigation moves, on we get to learn more things about Rachel, more things about the people she was interacting with and there were some things that I just.. turned off, because some things lost me, like the spy talk and such. Also, we get to see some things through other characters' POV, not just Sebastian's, and I started to think the killer had to be a specific person. Let me tell you, it was both annoying it was not and that this character remains an "active" player in the series, and surprising who ended up being the killer. I got the explanation but it was still over the top, to me.
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