WHO WILL REMEMBER

A sleuth in Regency London probes the death of a controversial aristocrat.

Amateur detective Sebastian Alistair St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is visited in 1816 by Irish urchin Jamie Gallagher with the news that a corpse is hanging upside down in the ruins of a rundown chapel off Swallow Street. The victim is crusading Lord Preston Farnsworth. What was a moralistic nobleman doing in such an unsavory location? Sebastian’s thoughts turn immediately to Major Hugh Chandler, the close friend who once saved his life and was a sworn enemy of the righteous Preston. Determined to exonerate his friend, Sebastian begins investigating. The road to a solution in Harris’ 20th Sebastian St. Cyr mystery is long and winding, proceeding with stately elegance. Nearly every short chapter introduces a new setting and a colorful new character, beginning with a head-spinning number of entangled lords and ladies. The enormous cast of Dickensian breadth ranges from leathery young soldier Billy Callaghan to alluring French cartomancer Madame Blanchette to gritty Henry Otis McGregor III, known as Half-Hanged Harry. The discovery that Harry has been hanged himself shortly after he confronts Sebastian indicates the novel’s deft irony even as it pumps urgency into the plot. The historical details that are a hallmark of the series include speculations about France’s uncertain future following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, a devastating volcanic eruption in Indonesia, and the resulting cold, wet aftermath in England, the “year without a summer.” While the whodunit’s solution is solid, the journey to it, full of entertaining Easter eggs, is even more satisfying.

A consistently brisk and engaging period mystery.