A review by cleheny
Who Speaks for the Damned by C.S. Harris

3.0

I consider this closer to 3.5 stars; liked it a bit more than the immediately preceding one (Who Slays the Wicked), despite its' obvious plot twist (though I didn't see the final plot twist coming). In this mystery, Sebastian investigates the murder of Nicholas Hayes, the third son of the late Earl of Seaforth. His death is shocking because, about 20 years before, he was convicted of the murder of a beautiful young emigre, transported to Botany Bay, and reported killed about 3 years later. But just as his reported death was not what it seems, Sebastian slowly reveals that everything else has been similarly distorted. The primary subplot concerns the disappearance of a young child, Ji, who accompanied Hayes from China (where Hayes lived after his escape from Botany Bay), following Hayes' murder. Hero and Jules Calhoun--Sebastian's valet, who was a friend of Hayes before Hayes' arrest--search for Ji as Sebastian investigates both Hayes' murder and the murder he was convicted of. As usual, Sebastian has multiple suspects who he is unable to eliminate until close to the end of the mystery.

What makes this mystery stronger than most other St. Cyr mysteries is the tragedy of Hayes' life, a man who had excellent reasons for rage, bitterness, and vengefulness, but who nonetheless found a way to find peace and do good. Jarvis' actions are more despicable than usual.

Harris sets up a major plot twist early on, but its effect is spoiled by the obviousness of the setup.

Spoiler

For more than 3/4 of the book, Ji is believed by other characters to be a 9 or 10 year old half Chinese/half English boy, but, in fact, Ji is a girl. Unfortunately, it becomes obvious within Ji''s first couple of appearances (she shows up several times, as she tries to survive on London's streets) that Harris is deliberately obscuring the character's gender. Harris will only refer to Ji by her name or the appellation, "the child," never he/she; him/her, etc.--except for one paragraph (on p. 197 of the hardcover ed.), where Harris writes of Ji, "for some reason only he dimly understood, the sight of her filled him with an odd combination of compassion and dread." Given how unnatural it is never to use a pronoun when referring to a significant character--particularly when writing from that character's point of view--it's fairly obvious what Harris is doing. If the single sentence on p. 197 was an attempt at deliberate misdirection, it came far too late to accomplish its purpose. I'm inclined to think it was a mistake that slipped past the editor.

But I didn't anticipate the very last plot twist, and it just reinforced Hayes' character.

Spoiler

Ji is not Hayes' biological, but adoptive, daughter.