Review: Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris

Who Speaks for the Damned

by C.S. Harris

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 336

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  It's June 1814, and the royal families of Austria, Russia, and the German states have gathered in London at the Prince Regent's invitation to celebrate the defeat of Napoléon and the restoration of monarchical control throughout Europe. But the festive atmosphere is marred one warm summer evening by the brutal murder of a disgraced British nobleman long thought dead.

Eighteen years before, Nicholas Hayes, the third son of the late Earl of Seaford, was accused of killing a beautiful young French émigré and transported to Botany Bay for life. Even before his conviction, Hayes had been disowned by his father. Few in London were surprised when they heard the ne'er-do-well had died in New South Wales in 1799. But those reports were obviously wrong. Recently Hayes returned to London with a mysterious young boy in tow--a child who vanishes shortly after Nicholas's body is discovered.

Kritters Thoughts:  Nicholas Hayes is found murdered very early on in this book and his murder sets off a whole host of dominoes as it was believed that Nicholas was dead and had been for years.  His return and murder brings out some long held animosity between quite a few people, but who was mad enough to murder.

This was the first book by CS Harris that I have read and I enjoyed it, but it didn't wow me when I compare it to other books in the genre.  What I didn't love about the story was the who dun it of it.  I felt as though the detective was clunky of sorts and it circled and circled and I wanted to feel as though the detective was just a bit smarter.  

The thing that kept me reading and that I enjoyed the most about the book was its pacing.  For me when I read mystery/thriller books, they must have good pacing and the book must keep moving forward or else I can loose attention and fast.  This book kept the pacing and at the end of each chapter I was ready to read the next.  

I don't know that I would go back and start this series at the beginning.  Thankfully starting on book 15 wasn't a problem as there wasn't much of a focus on the personal life of the main character and the plot was entirely about the murder that was enclosed in this one book.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.