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What Cannot Be Said - Harris
3 stars

This is the 19th book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. I’ve enjoyed the series for the ongoing characters and the historical details. Without doubt the mysteries are violent. There are always many deaths. Harris has never sugar coated the horrific aspects of war and poverty in 19th century England. This book is no exception.

The story takes place in 1815 in the months following the victory at Waterloo. Sebastian is drawn into the investigation of the senseless murders of a wealthy woman and her teenage daughter. Horrible murders that echo another crime twenty years in the past. There are many red herrings for Sebastian to follow as the body count goes up.

I had a kindle edition of this book. In the past I’ve enjoyed the audio editions read by Davina Porter who retired, and Jenny Sterlin who passed away last year. I wasn’t ready for a third narrator so I read this one myself.

Although I knew what to expect from this author, I found this book especially difficult to read. It’s always difficult to read about child abuse and this book has that in abundance, from baby farming and chimney cleaning climbing boys to abused child ‘apprentices’. This was also the second book this month that sent me to a 19th century insane asylum. I didn’t like it there. This has always been a fairly dark series, but that was balanced by the righteous ongoing characters; Sebastian and Hero. The balance was a bit off in this one.