When Blood Lies (audionovel)

  When Blood Lies (2022) by C. S. Harris (Candice Proctor); read by Jenny Sterlin

This review is devoted to the audio version. For a more detailed review of the book itself, please see my previous review: HERE.

As I'm impatiently waiting for the next Sebastian St. Cyr novel to be published (What Cannot Be Said, April 2024), I have been revisiting the previous books to remind myself of Lord Devlin's over-arching story. This time completely through audio novels. Up till now, Sebastian's story has been told by Davina Porter, who was outstanding--able to give voice to a variety of characters with differing accents and dialects. Her depiction of Sebastian and Hero has become firmly ingrained in my mind. Jenny Sterlin had very big shoes to fill. It's possible that if this were the first book in the series that I listened to as an audio novel that I would have been more impressed by her performance. It's perfectly adequate. But I don't think she has the range for male voices that Porter did. I found less distinction between the men and it was more difficult to remember who was speaking without key phrases like "Sebastian said" or "questioned the Earl of Hendon."

However, it was still a delight to listen to the further adventures of Sebastian and his lady as they are in France, hoping to finally get in touch with Sebastian's mother. Fate, of course, has an entirely different program in mind and they wind up investigating Sophia's murder. A murder with ties to the possible re-emergence of Napoleon on the world's stage. Harris manages to pull in all sorts of historical detail without overloading the reader and this remains one of my all-time favorite historical mystery series. ★★★★ for the audio version--the novel itself is a five-star winner.

First line: One more day, he thought, one more day, perhaps two, and then....

Last line: Long live the Emperor.

***************

Deaths = 13 (one drowned; one natural; five stabbed; one broken neck; two hit on head; two shot; one strangled)