A continuation of the Sebastian St Cyr mysteries, this one takes place in the Regent's quarters in Brighton during one of his outrageously expensive fetes. The people of London are starving, children without mothers beg in the street, and the Regent needs everyone to love him. So he throws this ball.

And as I'm finding with this mystery series, the murder happens right at the beginning of the book with the Prince Regent entering a private chamber for a private assignation with a Marchioness, only to find her dead and his own antique dirk protruding from her back.

Added to the mystery is the lack of blood in the chamber, the access to the Regent's collection of antique swords and knives, and how a medallion belonging to Sebastian's drowned mother was found around the dead woman's body. Woven into the thread of this tale are the suppositions about James II, whose descendants have as good a claim to the tottering throne as the Hanovers do. And the name of the dead Marchioness is Guinevere, her older sister named Morgana, and Gwen's childhood sweetheart whose family lost everything during the French Revolution.

Somehow, Harris manages to keep all these threads well-woven with just enough explanation to instruct but not condescend. I'll be interested to see how these novels continue. ( )

In the second volume of the series, Viscount Devlin aka Sebastian St. Cyr, is called in by a government minister to investigate and hopefully exonerate the Prince Regent from involvement in the murder of a young aristocratic woman after he was found with her dead body. Devlin is drawn into the investigation because the necklace worn by the dead woman once belonged to his supposedly late mother who disappeared at sea when he was just a young boy. And thus opens a story where Sebastian is to face disillusionment and heartbreak.

Despite this he manages to become involved in several bouts of fisticuffs and more serious assaults. Luckily, he has seen active service in the army and is a match for all kinds of deadly assailants. I was rather concerned about young Tom, though, the boy who helped him in book 1 and who is now in his service as a tiger - a Regency role whereby young boys rode on the backs of their masters' carriages as lightweight grooms - and all round spy and investigator. Tom is my favourite character in this series and he did fall into serious danger at one point in the story.

The fate of the young woman was tragic and quite affecting, but I did find the story dragged a bit about two thirds of the way through and I left it aside for a few weeks before continuing. But it does pick up quite well towards the end. So overall I would rate this as 3 stars. ( )

Much better than the first one, What Angels Fear, in that it is a far less graphically violent story line, which allowed me to thoroughly enjoy this one in a way I could not with the first.

I really like Sebastian, but as I mentioned in my thoughts on the first book, he needs his friends around more; Harris wrote a nice scene at the start of the first book with some banter between St. Cyr and his friend that I'd like to see more of in future books. While this book isn't weighty and depressing, it could use some lightness that friends would bring to the table. As it is, When Gods Die is a very earnest read that gets a little bogged down in the forbidden-love dynamic between St. Cyr and his love interest, Kat.

The mystery was good though - extremely well plotted and the motivation not at all clear.

I'll definitely be checking out more of this series from my library. ( )

Better than average writing, the story kept me intrigued and entertained. ( )

The second in the Sebastian St. Cyr series was written just as well as the first. I love consistency in a series! Sebastian is tasked with finding the killer of a young woman. As it's a mystery, I won't give anymore detail to avoid spoilers. I highly recommend this series, the author does a great job with character development, you really get to know them. I also appreciate that everything is well described but without unnecessary detail to keep the story moving. Seriously, read these books! ( )