Whisper of Death

Conspiracies abound in Wynn’s delectable sixth Blue Satan and Mrs. Kean mystery (after 2014’s Acts of Faith), set in London in 1716, with the Stuart Pretender, the son of the dethroned James II, seeking to dislodge George I as king. During a guided tour of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Hester Kean, a poor relation of an aristocratic family, hears a murderous whisper thanks to an architectural quirk of the cathedral: “I shall kill him with my bare hands.” When a titled wastrel ends up dead and someone close to Mrs. Kean is suspected, she launches an investigation to try to find the real killer, aided by her secret lover, Viscount St. Mars, who sometimes poses as a highwayman known as the Blue Satan. The passages following St. Mars as he picks his way through the shadowy taverns, shops, and hotels in London, pretending to be a Stuart conspirator to glean information, are both atmospheric and chilling. Move aside, Tudor and Regency eras, for this dive into early Georgian England reveals a period perfect for a whodunit. [em](Nov.) [/em]