What Remains of Heaven

[b:What Remains of Heaven|6423507|What Remains of Heaven (Sebastian St. Cyr, #5)|C.S. Harris|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442962658s/6423507.jpg|6612747]

What Remains of Heaven - C.S. Harris
Audio performance by Davina Porter
4 stars

Two bodies in a crypt. One has been there for 30 years, the other is very fresh. The first corpse is the evil older brother. There are lots of suspects; no one has really missed the cad and no one has mourned his death. The fresh corpse was the saintly Bishop of London, the much loved younger brother of the somewhat mummified older corpse. It’s complicated. And, it turns out that the last person to receive pastoral counselling from the Bishop of London was Miss Hero Jarvis. Hero has her own very pressing show more concerns. She needs to have this murder solved quickly. She would rather not ask Sebastian St.Cyr for help of any kind, but really, does she have any choice?

This one is full of red herrings and some interesting historical background. Sebastian has to solve the first murder to discover how it is connected to the recent atrocities. This takes him back to the American Revolution and a diplomatic mission that occurred before his birth. A bit too long before his birth, as it turns out. There are more St.Cyr family secrets to be disinterred with the bodies in the crypt.

I don’t worry about factual inaccuracies in this kind of fiction, so I enjoyed the connections to the spies and traitors of the American Revolution. I know that Harris stretches history to fit her plot sometimes, but I liked the role she gave to the elderly William Franklin (the estranged son of Benjamin Franklin). The Sebastian/Hero sub-plot is developing nicely. Hero, for all her courage and hutzpah, is a bit slow on the uptake about Sebastian.

If she won’t take him, I will. show less

Family secrets and treachery run rampant throughout this story. To make matters worse, Sebastian St. Cyr...Viscount Devlin...learns something that has the ability to turn his world upside down. The reader can't help but become involved as much with the characters as with the murder, although this one will keep you guessing until the very last chapter. I was partially right and still very much wrong...but hey...it was fun. I would recommend this series to anyone that enjoys a good murder mystery...a hero with outstanding character traits...and a good deal of history thrown into a delightful mix.

The Library Overdrive summary:
Sebastian St. Cyr's search for the killer of the controversial Bishop of London leads him from the back alleys of Smithfield to the power corridors of Whitehall to the well-guarded secrets of his own family's past.

I found this continuing saga of Sebastian's involvement in solving murders as engaging as ever. That his participation in solving crimes which reach into the aristocracy is a creative theme in Harris' St. Cyr mysteries. This particular book was a wonderful development in the complex relationship between Hero Jarvis and Sebastian. Both Hero and her mother are wonderfully drawn individuals.

What Remains of Heaven
4.5 Stars

When the body of a Bishop is discovered in an ancient crypt, the Archbishop of Canterbury seeks the help of Sebastian St. Cyr to solve the mystery of his death as well as that of the other, decades old corpse whose identity is unknown. As Sebastian gathers clues and suspects, he is also forced to confront the ghosts of his own past and stumbles across a devastating family secret.

While the mystery is well-crafted with smoothly interwoven historical detail and several exciting actions scenes, it is Sebastian’s character and his relationships with the people in his life that transform the story from merely enjoyable to truly fantastic.

The twists and turns of the plot are evident both in Sebastian’s show more investigation, which leads him to a slew of likely and unlikely suspects, as well as in his personal life where he must come to terms with the truth of his paternity and the possibility of impending fatherhood.

The real strength of the book lies in Sebastian and Hero’s interactions and their growing attraction. She is a wonderful heroine who lights up the pages with her unique mix of intelligence, independence and vulnerability, and observing her attempts at thwarting Sebastian’s curiosity and driving him toward infinite exasperation is particularly entertaining.

All in all, What Remains of Heaven is an excellent historical mystery and I will be reading the next book immediately, which is almost unheard of for me. show less

This installment of the Sebastian St Cyr mystery series involves a crypt beneath a church and the bodies of two murdered men recently found in it. The most recent victim is the Bishop of London, and he was next in line for the position of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Who, as it turns out, is known to Sebastian's Aunt Henrietta. And who can turn down a request from both esteemed individuals?

As Sebastian enters the case, he begins to puzzle why the local Rector of the village of Tanfield went first to London to advise the Archbishop before returning to his home church and local magistrate. Thanks to his young tiger, Tom, Sebastian also comes face-to-face with Obadiah Slade, with whom Sebastian served during the wars and whom he almost show more hanged for his wartime atrocities. Seems that Obadiah has lost none of his bloodthirsty ways.

Meanwhile, Hero is shocked by the murder of the Bishop of London since he was the only person who knew of her condition. She knows that it is only a matter of time before her pregnancy begins to show and she must act quickly to save her standing and her child. The Bishop had been arranging an adoption, but with his death her options become even more limited.

Dr. Gibson is invaluable in this volume as he begins to solve the mystery of the older body that is found underneath the Bishop's. His desire to study more about the effects of death in the crypt is key to the ending.

A fine, gripping, well-explained read and one I am glad I settled down with over a weekend. show less

Book 5 in the series and Harris continues to provide an atmospheric story of murder, treachery and family secrets. Not the strongest story in the series. In fact, I found the mystery to be a bit on the weak, humdrum side. Still a decent enough mystery but I would say it is the relationship dynamics of the regular characters that kept my interest. Harris still gives the reader suspenseful moments (Sebastian really does have more lives than a cat) and continues to develop the characters, given us a glimpse into Hero, beneath her armour surface. The verbal sparing (and some interesting side-stepping) between Sebastian and Hero continues in full force and is my favorite part of the story. They are such a perfect match, if only they would show more see that. *sighs* As for family secrets, well, those just keep on popping up to the point where even I was left reeling with the latest revelation. It is no wonder Sebastian and the Earl of Hendon's relationship is a guarded one... Sebastian never knows when Hendon is telling the truth! Thank goodness for Sebastian's Aunt Henrietta, the Dowager Duchess of Claiborne and the St. Cyr family matriarch. A woman who knows all of society's gossip and is not afraid to speak her mind.

As you have probably guessed, I continue to get a lot of enjoyment out of this series. show less

C.S. Harris is back on track with her latest Sebastian St.Cyr offering. As readers of the series know, most of the novels contain two major elements: the mystery, usually a death or two, to be solved within the pages of the novel, and the on-going complicated saga of Sebastian's life. Both are handled adroitly in "What Remains of Heaven."

The murder element involves two corpses found in an ancient church crypt, both victims of violence; one belongs to the current Bishop of London, the other is a mysterious mummified gentleman with an Italian dagger protruding from his back. Are the deaths related? Is there one murderer or two? (I guessed one and missed on the other; Harris plays fair, the clues are there.)

With regard to Sebastian's show more personal life, suffice it to say, his past is catching up with him in more ways than one. The sometimes soap opera-ish saga of his relationship with Kat, his father, and Miss Jarvis continues - much to this reader's satisfaction.

Readers who haven't read the earlier books would be cheating themselves by starting with this one. By all means begin at the beginning and savor each one. show less