Who does indeed speak for the damned?

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Who Speaks for the Damned (Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery #15)
by C. S. Harris        
What a sensitive and unusual couple Hero and Sebastian, Lord and Lady Devlin are.
I wouldn't like to cross Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. When he's quiet and controlled is when people should be wary, particularly when his much loved wife Hero is threatened. Both characters are independent and strong, both with their own developed interests that weave together in amazing ways. Parenthood has only enhanced their connection.
This story reaches back into the past. Sebastian's valet Calhoun brings to his attention the plight of a man sentenced eighteen years ago, under strained circumstances, to transportation, serving the life of a convict in Botany Bay. Inexplicably that man is later found not only back in England, but dead in Pennington’s Tea Gardens at Somer's Town.  Nicholas Hayes, the youngest son of the late Earl of Seaforth had been a byword for what happens to rebellious  offspring, frequently used as a cautionary tale by harassed parents. Nicholas apparently managed to escape from Botany Bay to Canton, and after many years there, secretly returned to England to set mysterious things to rights.
Hayes was accompanied by a young Eurasian boy Ji who disappears. Hero is particularly worried about him and as she's writing a story about the plight of street musicians she uses that as her cover to investigate further.
It's June 1814 and the Prince Regent is celebrating Napoleon's defeat with leaders of the victorious countries--an exhausting round of grand occasions.
Hero and Gage find themselves intent on solving the death of Nicholas and finding Ji. In doing so they are drawn back into a past that many want left alone, to the point of focusing their wrath on the couple. Dangerously so! Sebastian is determined that the truth about Nicholas's previous conviction and concerns be unmasked no matter where that might lead. Speaking for the damned indeed!
Another splendid vintage Sebastian St. Cyr mystery!

 A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley

*****

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