In this mystery in the Sebastian St. Cyr series, the aristocratic
investigator is drawn into a sordid world of greed, desperation, and the
occult when the husband of his former lover is accused of murder.
Regency England, September 1812 After a long night spent dealing with
the tragic death of a former military comrade, a heart-sick Sebastian
learns of a new calamity: Russell Yates, the dashing, one-time privateer
who married Kat Boleyn a year ago, has been found standing over the
corpse of Benjamin Eisler, a wealthy gem dealer. Yates insists he is
innocent, but he will surely hang unless Sebastian can unmask the real
killer.
For the sake of Kat, the woman he once loved and lost, Sebastian plunges
into a treacherous circle of intrigue. Although Eisler's clients
included the Prince Regent and the Emperor Napoleon, he was a despicable
man with many enemies and a number of dangerous, well-kept
secrets--including a passion for arcane texts and black magic. Central
to the case is a magnificent blue diamond, believed to have once formed
part of the French crown jewels, which disappeared on the night of
Eisler's death. As Sebastian traces the diamond's ownership, he uncovers
links that implicate an eccentric, powerful financier named Hope and
stretch back into the darkest days of the French Revolution.
When the killer grows ever more desperate and vicious, Sebastian finds
his new marriage to Hero tested by the shadows of his first love,
especially when he begins to suspect that Kat is keeping secrets of her
own. And as matters rise to a crisis, Sebastian must face a bitter
truth--that he has been less than open with the fearless woman who is
now his wife.
