The Maiden in the Moat

Book 7 of the Sebastian St Cyr mystery series begins with our hero and his new bride, Hero, contemplating a honeymoon trip out to the country estate.  Only married a few days, they are trying to become accustomed to the new arrangement – their nights are surprisingly passionate, but the days are strained and awkward.  Sebastian, Viscount Devlin, feels that some time away from London might be helpful to ease the situation.

However, they learn that a friend of Hero’s has been found dead, and their plans immediately change to deal with that.  Gabrielle Tennyson was a noted antiquarian, investigating a long abandoned castle known as Camlet Moat; she believed it could be the site of the fabled Camelot.  Unfortunately, her body was discovered in a rowboat floating in the moat, and her two young cousins have gone missing.  Was this a random act of violence, or is there something more sinister at work here?  Many people hate the Prince Regent, and continue to spread rumors of King Arthur’s return to the throne, while at the same time Hero’s father is determined to quash those rumors.  Could he have been ruthless enough to kill an innocent woman and two young boys?  Or was there someone else behind the death?

These are the questions that Devlin and Hero grapple with, each of them investigating on their own and sometimes at cross purposes with each other.  And yet, you can see the relationship between them growing stronger.  With his strained relationship to the man he thought of as father, and his sour older sister as his only family, Hero seems to bring a sense of normalcy to his life.  Devlin is still trying to sort out who his true father was, and comes across a man who looks eerily similar to himself.  It remains to be seen exactly how this will play out in future books.

In the end, this was another good book.  The romance angle is very slow burning; however, in the last chapter we get a better glimpse of the intimacy between them.  It may be that Devlin is learning to let go of his obsession with Kat Boleyn, which will be a good thing.