Exclusive interview with author C.S. Harris and a review of her new Sebastian St. Cyr mystery novel about murder and mayhem
Rating: 3 Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“Where Shadows Dance actually twists together two ideas,” says author C.S. Harris. “The first revolves around some very real diplomatic skullduggery that took place in that pivotal summer of 1812, when Napoleon invaded Russia. Wellington began to turn the tide in the Peninsula, and there was a critical realignment of alliances that ultimately led to the defeat of France. But the premise that kicks off the book, when surgeon and anatomist Paul Gibson discovers that the cadaver he’s just bought from London’s notorious body snatchers was secretly murdered, came to me in a blinding flash one day when I was taking a bath. I find baths, naps, and walks to be great fonts of inspiration and creativity.”
Where Shadows Dance is set in 1812 London. Sebastian St. Cyr, the only surviving son and heir of the Earl of Hendon, is asked by his friend, surgeon Paul Gibson, to solve a mystery. A body Gibson illegally bought from body snatchers for study has a stab wound at the base of the skull. The man was murdered. The dead man was Alexander Ross, who worked for the Foreign Office. St. Cyr and his wife to be, Hero Jarvis, work together to solve this mystery. With Napoleon invading Russia and the Americans going to war, will they find the answer without creating even more international turmoil?
The historical facts add to the story, such as deaths compiled by the elderly women in each parish for more than 200 years prior to 1812 called the Bills of Mortality. Harris’ descriptions draw you into 1812. But the characters and characteristics of the protagonists, St Cyr and Hero Jarvis, feel a bit modern at times. Their personal relationships seems rushed, could have been developed a bit more before they become engaged.
Harris says she become increasingly interested in what London looked like in 1812. “I’ve spent a lot of time in London over the years, but of course the city has changed enormously in the past two centuries. So I spend a great deal of time poring over old maps and reading early nineteenth century guidebooks, journals, and letters. Thanks to Google Books, many of them are now available online. I enjoy searching out interesting locales for scenes. It takes time, but I think it makes the stories more interesting.”
“Some of the most fascinating insights into the period come from studying the Bills of Mortality,” says Harris. “These were death records kept by London authorities to help give early warning of a plague outbreak. They are amazingly detailed, providing ages and causes of death for everyone who died in London, week by week. They tell us, first of all, that your chances of getting murdered in 1812 were actually quite low. But London was an extraordinarily unhealthy place to live. Its death rate exceeded its birthrate. If it weren’t for the influx of healthy young people from the countryside, the city would have become depopulated.”
Where Shadows Dance is the sixth book in the Sebastian St. Cyr series. This novel can be read on it’s own, but it’s better to read them in order. There are plot points that flow through all the books. The first five books are: What Angles Fear, When Gods Die, Why Mermaids Sing, Where Serpents Sleep and What Remains of Heaven. Book seven in series, When Maidens Mourn, will be released March 2012.
Harris, whose real name is Candice Proctor, also writes as C.S. Graham. Harris graduated with a degree in classics before earning a Ph.D. in European history. A scholar of the French Revolution and 19th-century Europe, she has lived in Europe and various far-flung parts of the old British Empire.
Where Shadows Dance: A Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery by C.S. Harris. Hardcover, 352 pages, Publisher: NAL Hardcover; First Edition (March 1, 2011). Language: English, ISBN: 9780451232236 $24.95
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