When Falcons Fall (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery Book 11)

I have loved all the Sebastian St. Cry books. This one started out great, with Sebastian and Hero is a small town looking for clues to his father's identity. There is a suspicious death and he is called upon to investigate. This is where the book derails with a surplus of characters impossible to keep straight. There is political drama, talk of the injustice of the enclosures, revolutionaries, love affairs, and a whole slew of stuff going on in the Peyton Place of England. People start dropping like flies- all Sebastian had to do was wait until only the killer was left standing and the mystery would get solved.Love C.S. Harris's style, but miss the brooding darkness of our favorite sleuth. I missed Jarvis's menace, Sebastian's angst and conflict, Hero's smart spunkiness and the city of London's energy and tumult.

What can I say about this series that I haven't already said? It's my absolute favorite historical mystery series and this book is certainly worthy of helping the series to maintain that status. After the rather sad events of the last book, Sebastian has arrived at an idyllic rural village in Shropshire with his wonderful wife, Hero, at his side. His motives for making the journey are deeply personal but no sooner has he arrived then the shadow of a mysterious death pulls at his attentions. The new village Squire, having heard of Sebastian's reputation for solving murders, enlists his aid in discovering why a young widow, rather recently arrived to town herself, is suddenly dead. The resulting investigation is a twisting, turning journey through dark and deeply held secrets stretching back through the years.The time and setting are so vividly portrayed that I can practically feel myself wandering through the various sites along with Sebastian and Hero. The murder was intricately woven with enough red herrings that I certainly didn't figure out who the guilty party was until maybe a nano second before Sebastian revealed all. And the use of actual bits of history, in this case the actual presence of Napolean's younger brother in the English countryside as a prisoner of war as well as the impact of the Enclosure Laws, is masterfully done. The fact that Sebastian was operating without his usual sources of aid, like Lovejoy and Gibson, may have frustrated Sebastian but I don't feel the story suffered for their absence. It was weird to have an entire book without Jarvis though. At any rate, I will be glad for the return to London for the next book.But, really, Sebastian made out quite fine in the end because he has the wonderful Hero at his side. Watching their relationship grow and mature across several books has been a real highlight of this series and it only adds that extra something special to what is already an exceptional historical mystery series. If there had just been one or two extra scenes between the couple it would have elevated this book to a five star read for me. The fact that I'm only giving it four stars is less about the quality of the story and more about my level of greediness where Sebastian/Hero are concerned.

I follow Sebastian and was expecting more semi-scientific murder investigation. The story begins on a promising note in "Ayleswick-on-Teme, Shropshire Tuesday, 3 August 1813" with a slain damsel in a meadow and the inexperienced, young Squire Archie. Luckily, Sebastian is in the local inn, in search of his elusive father (the one with the amber eyes, who can see in the dark). He is there with Hero and his baby son. Pretty soon we have become familiar with Lucien Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother), several suspicious gentlemen, a gardener, ladies who know too much, and corpses galore. Needless to say, Sebastian solves all riddles involving death, smuggling, rape and .... well, I can't say. But it seems too much for this book.

The writing is not bad but I'm getting a little tired of this series. The plots have become repetitive. In book after book, we are told of Sebastian's estrangement from his father, his hatred (mutual) for his father in law, his devotion to his former love, Kat Boleyn, his horror and revulsion for war and mankind in general. There are a lot of descriptions of clothing, most of which we don't need. There are always a lot of possible bad guys, many of whom are indeed revealed as bad guys. There is a lot of violence. Sebastian is attacked many times and always gets bloody but manages to avoid serious injury. He runs after a lot of people who attack him or somebody else but they always get away, until the end, when they don't.There are two things that make this book particularly depressing. The first is the frequent comments on the life of the common people, universally depicted as brutal, short and unjust. This may indeed have been a true picture, but constantly rubbing the reader's face in it is not entertaining. Second, the victim in this case is too young, too smart, too beautiful, too talented, too brave, too noble, too well meaning and too tragic. In most mysteries, the victim is presented with a bit of distance. The author wants the reader to want the crime solved, but the emotional impact is generally kept on the protagonist. In this book, the tragedy of the victim is constantly reinforced. Specifically, a young orphan is trying to discover her roots and is murdered, but the way in which she is depicted makes her murder both maddening and sad for the reader. What makes it even worse (spoiler alert!) is the fact that the murder is almost an accident. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and overheard a conversation that she should not have heard. Oh, well, have to get rid of the witness, her bad luck. Murder victims rarely deserve to be murdered but this girl should have been the heroine of the book, not casually disposed of to give Sebastian something to do. The murder of Jamie Knox in the previous book was similarly useless and depressing. The theme of every mystery is essentially the same: chaos and the restoration of order. In this book, chaos is barely held at bay but order, and certainly justice, cannot be restored.I've read the whole series and I'm getting increasingly tired of it. I may just have had my fill of Sebastian St. Cyr.

Another excellent book in this series. This is not a stand alone book, you need to have read the others in order to understand Sebastian's background and what is happening.After publican Jamie Knox, who looks so much like Sebastian as to be his brother (half-brother), is shot and killed in mistake for Sebastian (last book), Sebastian, his wife Hero and baby son Simon travel to a village in Shropshire in order to deliver a gift that Jamie had bought for his grandmother. In visiting Jamie's grandmother, Sebastian is hoping to find out if she knows who both his and Jamie's father is. Whilst staying in the village a young woman is murdered and Sebastian is asked to help in the investigation by the new young magistrate. It turns out that the young woman isn't who she said she was, so why was she visiting the village? The murder suspects and murdered bodies begin to pile up, including Lucien Napoleon, the brother of Napoleon. French spies, English spies complicate matters. Excellent book.

would recomend to anyone who enjoys the regency period with added mystery, excellent characters, i have them all in paper back or ebook.

I say the same thing for each book in this series. Well researched, well written, and a very good story. Looking forward to reading the next one.

I absolutely love this entire series and I would recommend it to anyone who likes historical mysteries.

One of my favourite series. Brilliant.