My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Ayleswick-on-Teme, 1813. Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, has come to this seemingly peaceful Shropshire village to honor a slain friend and on a quest to learn more about his own ancestry. But when the body of a lovely widow is found on the banks of the River Teme, a bottle of laudanum at her side, the village’s inexperienced new magistrate turns to St. Cyr for help.
Almost immediately, Sebastian realizes that Emma Chance did not, in truth, take her own life. Less easy to discern is exactly how she died, and why. For as Sebastian and Hero soon discover, Emma was hiding both her true identity and her real reasons for traveling to Ayleswick. Also troubling are the machinations of Lucien Bonaparte, the estranged brother of the megalomaniac French Emperor Napoleon. Held captive under the British government’s watchful eye, the younger Bonaparte is restless, ambitious, and treacherous.
Sebastian’s investigation takes on new urgency when he discovers that Emma was not the first, or even the second, beautiful young woman in the village to die under suspicious circumstances. Home to the eerie ruins of an ancient monastery, Ayleswick reveals itself to be a dark and dangerous place of secrets that have festered among the villagers for decades—and a violent past that may be connected to Sebastian’s own unsettling origins. And as he faces his most diabolical opponent ever, he is forced to consider what malevolence he’s willing to embrace in order to destroy a killer.
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Sebastian St. Cyr is one of my favorite series, and I have read all books except the one previous (going to buy it as soon as the paperback version comes out) and I've been looking forward to reading this one. Sebastian, Hero, and little Simon are in the little village to pay respect to Jamie Knox grandmother and to give her a gift from Jamie. Jamie must have been killed in the previous book because I haven't read about it and it saddens me that he is gone since I quite liked Sebastian half-brother. Sebastian is trying to find his father and also figure out where a necklace he has comes from. But, he must also find out who would kill Emma Chance, could it have something to do with her trying to find her father? Or is there a greater plot going on with Napoleon's brother Lucien Bonaparte staying close by the village.
There is a lot going on, the village has lots of secrets, and it seems that the more Sebastian digs in the past the worse it gets with more people getting killed. It seems that there is a killer loose and the person in question will do anything to silence the ones that can give him/her away.
When Falcons Fall is one of the best books in the series, the case is deeply tragic especially for Sebastian who feels for the young dead girl who just like him only wanted to find out who fathered her. It's a page-turner and it was hard to figure out who was behind the murdered, especially since the suspects kept dying like flies.
This is a series that just keeps getting stronger and I can't wait to find out what will happen next for Sebastian, Hero, and Simon.
I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review.
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