What Darkness Brings: A Sebastian St. Cyr Novel

A murder case complicates Sebastian St. Cyr’s recent marriage in Harris’s excellent eighth Regency mystery (after 2012’s When Maiden’s Mourn): the accused, former privateer Russell Yates, is the husband of Kat Boleyn, St. Cyr’s long-time love interest, for whom he still pines. Yates is charged with the fatal shooting of diamond merchant Daniel Eisler at the merchant’s London house. Yates, who had an appointment with Eisler, claims he heard a pistol shot at the door before rushing inside and finding the merchant dead in the parlor, where Eisler’s nephew discovered him crouching over the body. St. Cyr learns that the unscrupulous Eisler tried to sell a large blue diamond that had been one of the French Crown Jewels, but that disappeared in 1792. The combination of complex back story, intricate plotting, surprising developments, and poignant evocations of the lives of the underprivileged makes this one of the best entries in Harris’s superior historical series. Agent: Helen Breitwieser, Cornerstone Literary. (Mar.)