2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion
This topic is about
What Cannot Be Said
What Cannot Be Said
>
What Cannot Be Said by C. S. Harris
date
newest »
newest »
It is hard to believe that adults were so uncaring to young children.
Mod
I just finished this one, since it's already due back at the library!
At last I have picked this one up from my library. Starting it at once:)
July 1815: The Prince Regent’s grandiose plans to celebrate Napoléon’s recent defeat at Waterloo are thrown into turmoil when Lady McInnis and her daughter Emma are found brutally murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in a chilling imitation of the stone effigies once found atop medieval tombs. Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy immediately turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for help with the investigation. For as Devlin discovers, Lovejoy’s own wife and daughter were also murdered in Richmond Park, their bodies posed in the same bizarre postures. A traumatized ex-soldier was hanged for their killings. So is London now confronting a malicious copyist? Or did Lovejoy help send an innocent man to the gallows?
Aided by his wife, Hero, who knew Lady McInnis from her work with poor orphans, Devlin finds himself exploring a host of unsavory characters from a vicious chimney sweep to a smiling but decidedly lethal baby farmer. Also coming under increasing scrutiny is Sir Ivo McInnis himself, along with a wounded Waterloo veteran—who may or may not have been Laura McInnis’s lover—and a charismatic young violinist who moonlights as a fencing master and may have formed a dangerous relationship with Emma. But when Sebastian’s investigation turns toward man about town Basil Rhodes, he quickly draws the fury of the Palace, for Rhodes is well known as the Regent’s favorite illegitimate son.
Then Lady McInnis’s young niece and nephew are targeted by the killer, and two more women are discovered murdered and arranged in similar postures. With his own life increasingly in danger, Sebastian finds himself drawn inexorably toward a conclusion far darker and more horrific than anything he could have imagined.
Settings
London, England (July 1815)
57 Chapters
Character List
(view spoiler)[
Recurring Characters
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 toddler 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 and Sebastian have a toddler son, Simon, and she’s six-months pregnant.
Simon Alistair St. Cyr: Sebastian and Hero's 20-month old son.
Patrick St. Cyr: Pippa’s son who she left with Sebastian and Hero when she went to America with Ian. He’s Sebastian’s nephew but is being raised as his 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 is his lover and lives with him.
Alexandri (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 and is now married to Victoria, his deceased wife Annabelle’s cousin.
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.
Sophie St. Cyr: aka Dama Capello. Sebastian’s mother who was believed to have drowned when he was a child. However, he recently learned that was untrue.
Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Claiborne: Lord Hendon's sister, Sebastian and Amanda's aunt. She has a son, Claiborne who is married to Emily.
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.
Lord Bayard Wilcox: Amanda’s son.
Stephanie Wilcox Ledger, Lady Ashworth: Amanda's daughter. She was married to Anthony and mother of twin sons.
Anthony Marcus Ledger, Viscount Ashworth: Stephanie's abusive husband, now deceased. He was thirty-two years old when he was murdered, handsome, wellborn, and extraordinarily wealthy.
James Ledger: Stephanie’s son, Adrian’s twin.
Adrian Ledger: Stephanie’s infant son, James’ twin.
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.
Grace Calhoun: Jules’ mother, a famous underworld figure. She operates the Red Lion Inn.
Giles: Sebastian's groom.
Victoria Hart-Davis: Annabelle's distant cousin who continues to live in and run the Jarvis’ household. She’s Jarvis’ wife and Sebastian suspects she killed Annabelle.
Kat Boleyn: Actress who was Sebastian's first love. She's Hendon's illegitimate daughter.
Edward Burnside: Former hussar major and Jarvis' henchman.
Ashur Kemp: Jarvis’ aide.
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.
Grisham: Jarvis’s butler.
Jamie Knox: Former owner of the Black Devil tavern who was killed during an attempt on Sebastian’s life. He was a former sharpshooter for the army and looked like Sebastian and is suspected to have been his half brother. He was also a reputed smuggler.
Pippa: Barkeep and owner of the Black Devil tavern. She was Jamie's girlfriend and mother of their son, Patrick.
Non Recurring Characters
:
:
:
:
:
:
: (hide spoiler)]