What Cannot Be Said: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery

Harris returns with a refreshingly fast-paced Regency-era whodunit featuring sleuth Sebastian St. Cyr (after Who Cries for the Lost). In the summer of 1815, two brothers hear gunshots and discover the corpses of Lady McInnis and her daughter, Emma, in London’s Richmond Park. When Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy arrives on the scene, the women’s strange poses—like “the stone effigies one often saw atop medieval tombs”—immediately reminds him of the murders of his wife and teenage daughter 14 years earlier. They were killed in the same spot, with their bodies arranged in the same manner, and Lovejoy’s investigation led to the arrest and execution of a disturbed former soldier. Fearing he may have hanged an innocent man while the real killer remained at large, Lovejoy taps Sebastian to launch his own probe into the recent deaths. As Sebastian digs into Lady McInnis’s potential infidelity and her conflicts with a beloved local man named Basil Rhodes, two more bodies turn up. Harris manages to keep even the most savvy readers in the dark throughout, while offering up vivid historical color and satisfying twists. This installment ranks with the series’ best. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Apr.)