Reviews

When Falcons Fall by C.S. Harris

chloebear21's review against another edition

informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Murder, and Suicide

reikista's review against another edition

4.0

Sebastian and Hero are in Shropshire, following up on Jamie Knox’s grandmother, who may have clues as to Sebastian’s ancestry, when a young, visiting widow, is found dead by apparent suicide. The squire suspects foul play and asks Devlin for help, uncovering a series of apparent suicides that are likely murders, some with a 20 year history.

Learned of and about the Enclosure Movement, the fight for citizen rights and the feedback between the French and American Revolutions back to England, as well as inheritance law, and about the mores around unwed mothers in different classes and the choices they would have.

bee26's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

catmom22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

iskanderjonesiv's review against another edition

4.0

The much-anticipated new entrée in the Sebastian St. Cyr “simply elegant” historical mystery series, from the national bestselling author of Who Buries the Dead and Why Kings Confess*.

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.

*Lisa Gardner

**

mamap's review against another edition

3.0

Devlin is traveling with his family to visit the grandmother of his half-brother. Of course, he is pulled into another murder mystery.

I wish we knew more answers. This series is not as exciting now, but I am enjoying the interactions between Sebastian and Hero.

Really, just a brief moment in their lives.

PG13

cassandra67b07's review against another edition

4.0

Hard to know what else to say about the 11th book in this excellent series. I appreciate that Devlin is gaining an awareness of how constrained women’s lives were and how brutal many of the gentry and nobility can be. Hero has a lot to do with this but some of it he’s coming to on his own. When you consider how he started the series, Harris has written a sensitive and believable transformation of Lord Devlin. Onward to book 12!

mpowers1813's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

annmaries's review against another edition

4.0

This is the first book set outside of London, and I enjoyed the change of pace. The mysteries were starting to get a bit repetitive, so while I missed some of the characters we usually see (Gibson, for example), I appreciated the chance to get to know Hero and Sebastian better.

constantreader471's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars for another pleasant read by C. S. Harris. Her historical fiction books are written with accurate descriptions of the clothes, speech and landscapes of England in early 1800s, sometimes called Regency England. This is book 11 in the series and I recommend that you start with book 1, as there are continuing plot developments in the personal life of Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin.
In this book, Devlin and his wife Hero, daughter to Lord Jarvis, have journeyed to a fictional village, Ayleswick-On-Teme, to do do 2 things: Find out more about Devlin's father and give a mechanical nightingale to Jamie Knox's grandmother. It was purchased by Jamie Knox for his grandmother. Jamie was murdered in book 10, partly due to his proximity to Devlin.
However, Devlin's fame at solving murders has spread to this small village, and the local magistrate, Archie Rawlins, only 5 months into his position, has asked Devlin to examine the body of a dead woman. Devlin realizes that a clever killer has murdered this woman and made it to look like suicide.
The resulting investigation reveals some deadly secrets, some going back decades, and a killer who is willing to kill to stop the truth from coming out. Devlin, Rawlins, and Hero do discover who the killer is, but there are many false clues and I was was not sure of who the killer was until the end.
Two quotes:
16th century portraits: "It's hard to believe women actually used to shave their foreheads and eyebrows, isn't it?' said Lady Seaton, pausing before a trio of sixteenth-century ladies with complexions so white they could have only come from makeup disastrously mixed with lead."
I learned something new about England. "By Endglish law, any sudden, violent, or unnatural death required an inquest. Sworn in by the county coroner,a jury of between twelve and twenty-four 'good and honest men' was impaneled to view the body of the deceased, hear testimony from relevant witnesses, and present its findings. More legal than medical in form and function, the inquest was a legacy from the days of the Norman Conquest, when the Crown's main interest had been in taxing any Saxon populations that could be found responsible for the murder of a Norman."
I read this library book in 4 days.