2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion
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Why Kill the Innocent
Why Kill the Innocent
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Why Kill the Innocent by C. S. Harris
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Isn't it nice to get another book in the series! I enjoyed it even more than you did Jonetta. I gave it five stars:)
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I’m working on the character list and then will post some discussion questions.
London, 1814. As a cruel winter holds the city in its icy grip, the bloody body of a beautiful young musician is found half-buried in a snowdrift. Jane Ambrose's ties to Princess Charlotte, the only child of the Prince Regent and heir presumptive to the throne, panic the palace, which moves quickly to shut down any investigation into the death of the talented pianist. But Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife Hero refuse to allow Jane's murderer to escape justice.
Untangling the secrets of Jane's world leads Sebastian into a maze of dangerous treachery where each player has his or her own unsavory agenda and no one can be trusted. As the Thames freezes over and the people of London pour onto the ice for a Frost Fair, Sebastian and Hero find their investigation circling back to the palace and building to a chilling crescendo of deceit and death . . .
52 Chapters
Character List
(view spoiler)[
Sebastian St. Cyr, Lord Devlin: Viscount Devlin. Tall, leanly built man, not yet 30-years old. He has dark hair and strange yellow eyes with the unnatural ability to see clearly at great distances or at night. Lord Hendon's only surviving son, they enjoy a very complicated and acrimonious relatiohship. St. Cyr's mother abandoned him at a young age which still affects him to this day. He was forced to forgo the love of his life, Kat Boleyn due to familial secrets. He's now married to Hero and father of their infant son, Simon.
Hero Jarvis St. Cyr, Lady Devlin: Viscountess Devlin. Daughter of Charles, Lord Jarvis and St. Cyr's enemy, She's tall, 25-years old with gray eyes and was considered a spinster until she married Sebastian. Independent minded, smart and not afraid of her father. She recently gave birth to their son, Simon.
Simon Alistair St. Cyr: Sebastian and Hero's 1-year old son.
Claire Bisette: Simon's nursemaid. She recently lost her 3-year old daughter.
Tom: Sebastian's 15-year old groom or tiger who is devoted to him because he rescued him from the streets after he saved Sebastian's life. Secures information for Sebastian due to living on the streets and his ability to go undetected.
Paul Gibson: Former army surgeon, an Irishman who shared the battlefields with Sebastian where he lost a leg. Unmarried, he works out of a small surgery at the base of Tower Hill and shares his knowledge of anatomy at St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew's teaching hospitals. He frequently assists St. Cyr, his friend, with his murder investigations and provides an invaluable source of knowledge. He's in his mid-thirties, slim, dark haired and of medium height and has an opium addiction. Alexi now lives with him.
Alexi Sauvage: French doctor currently living with Paul.
Charles, Lord Jarvis: Brilliant, ruthless man and cousin to the King. Completely dedicated to the preservation of the House of Hanover, he was considered the power behind Prinny (Prince Regent) weak Regency due to King George slipping into madness. In prior mysteries, St. Cyr had broken into Jarvis' house, held him at gunpoint and thrown a knife at him. They were not on the best of terms and neither trusted the other. He's Hero's father.
Annabelle, Lady Jarvis: Lord Jarvis' deceased wife, Hero's mother.
Emma Knight: Young widow who was Annabelle's companion.
Alistair St. Cyr, Earl of Hendon: Sebastian's father to the world but in reality he was not. Sebastian recently learned he's not his biological father but the Earl has always known. He is, however, the father of Kat Bolyen, Sebastian's former lover, and allowed Sebastian to believe they were brother and sister. Currently the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his late sixties with deep blue eyes.
Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Claiborne: Lord Hendon's sister, Sebastian and Amanda's aunt.
Lady Amanda Wilcox: Oldest of the St. Cyr siblings, Sebastian's sister. Her husband drowned as he was attempting to murder Sebastian. He had already murdered several people. Mother of Bayard and Stephanie.
Stephanie Wilcox Ledger, Lady Ashworth: Amanda's daughter. She's married to Anthony and pregnant.
Anthony Ledger, Viscount Ashworth: Stephanie's abusive husband. He's thirty-two years old, handsome, wellborn, and extraordinarily wealthy.
Sir Henry Lovejoy: Once the chief magistrate at Queen Square, now the newest of Bow Street’s three stipendiary magistrates, and friend of Sebastian.
Morey: Sebastian's majordomo.
Jules Calhoun: Sebastian's valet. Began his life in one of London's most notorious flash house, some of his unusual talents are of use to Sebastian from time to time.
Giles: Sebastian's groom.
Victoria Hart-Davis: Annabelle's distant cousin who continues to live in and run the Jarvis’ household.
Kat Boleyn: Actress who was Sebastian's first love. She's Hendon's illegitimate daughter.
Edward Burnside: Former hussar major and Jarvis' henchman.
George Augustus Frederick: aka Prinny. Prince of Wales and Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales: Sole legitimate issue of the Prince of Wales and heiress presumptive to the throne. Her mother is Princess Caroline.
Princess Caroline: Princess of Wales and estranged wife of the Prince of Wales, Charlotte’s mother.
Jane Somerset Ambrose: Accomplished pianist and composer. Piano teacher to Princess Charlotte, sole heir of the Prince Regent. She had a twin brother, James, who died a few years ago. She was also a mother of two sons, Benjamin and Lawrence, who died recently of consumption.
Edward Ambrose: Jane’s husband, a successful playwright and dramatist. He’s earned recent success writing operas.
Christian Ambrose: Jane’s younger brother, a journalist and publisher. He and Liam once published an underground newspaper called The Poor Man’s Advocate.
Liam Maxwell: Journalist and publisher. He’s Christian’s best friend. He now publishes a newspaper called The Intelligencer.
Ella Kinsworth: Hero’s friend and a “subgoverness” or lady companion to Princess Charlotte.
Richard Sheridan: Playwright, poet and former long-time member of Parliament. He was the former owner of Covent Garden Theater and Drury Lane. Jane was his niece by marriage.
William, Hereditary Prince of Orange: Betrothed to Charlotte.
Nathan Rothschild: German financier and smuggler.
Anna Rothschild: Nathan’s daughter. She was one of Jane’s students.
Phineas Wallace: Prominent Whig politician and one of the Princess of Wales closest advisers. He has 15 children.
Peter van der Pals: Dutch courtier attached to the Dutch embassy. He formerly served as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley.
Valentino Vescovi: Italian musician who teaches the harp to Princess Charlotte.
Charles Hesse: Lieutenant and son of the Regent’s brother, the Duke of York. Charlotte’s first cousin.
Catherine Anguish Osborne, Duchess of Leeds: Governess to the princess.
Arabella Osborne: Daughter of the Duchess of Leeds.
John Fisher: aka the Great Up. Bishop of Salisbury, Preceptor to HRH Princess Charlotte.
William Godwin: Well-known political philosopher.
Jenny Sanborn: The cooper’s wife who Alexi helped deliver her baby and was interviewed by Hero.
Amy Hatcher: Impoverished young woman jailed for stealing a ham. She recently gave birth to a baby, Hannah. She was married to Jeremy who was impressed into service.
Jack Donavon: Man who attacked Sebastian.
Emma Carter: Former opera dancer.
Archibald Potter: Smuggler.
Lottie Jones: Princess Charlotte’s official miniature portrait painter.
(hide spoiler)]
Spoiler Info
(view spoiler)[
Edward Ambrose had a mistress, Emma Carter, who is very much pregnant. He was also publishing operas written by Jane, as well as physically abusing her.
Princess Charlotte was having inappropriate assignations with Hesse and wrote him letters with damaging information about their encounters. If they were made public, the betrothal would be destroyed.
Christian overheard Jane talking about the letters with Liam. He intercepted them and stole them. Jane deduced this when John Fisher mentioned seeing him where the letters were stolen. She went to his office, found them and was burning them when he tried to stop her. She fell and hit her head on the stove and died. Christian killed Edward in an attempt to frame his friend Liam. When Sebastian confronted him on the river, Christian committed suicide by jumping into the icy waters of the Thames.
Peter van der Pals raped Jane two days before her death as a threat for her to keep her mouth shut about Orange being gay. He attempted to kill Hero in an attempt to pay Sebastian back for dishonoring him. Hero shot him dead. He had also probably killed Vescovi. (hide spoiler)]