"Fantastic action-packed Regency amateur sleuth tale"

In 1811 London, Rachel York believes she has found sanctuary in the fourteenth century constructed Lady Chapel of the 800 years old St. Matthew of Field. However, she soon learns her mistake as an assailant brutally rapes and murder her on alter steps.

Amidst the bloody body is found a fancy dueling pistol that belongs to Viscount Sebastian St. Cyr, who suffers from combat fatigue. He is not just the prime suspect, he is the only one. Knowing only he wants to prove his innocence and expose the person who framed him, he flees into the night before he can sent to Newgate. He begins making inquires with the help of people he would never have met before going on the lam and from someone from his past, but the proof he slowly accumulates points to the fact that Rachel is more than just a victim and all leads end with an unknown untouchable with regal connections.

WHAT ANGELS FEAR is a fantastic action-packed Regency amateur sleuth tale that starts at a frenzied pace and never slows down until the climax; yet in spite of the daring deeds of the hero and dastardly deeds of the villain, Sebastian is a fully developed character. Readers will understand the problems he confronts from his war experience and his previously broken heart, but appreciate his antics starting with a duel in which he shoots his cheating opponent in the arse as he sets out to prove his innocence while others want him incarcerated or dead. This strong historical who-done-it stars a likable protagonist.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 15, 2005

Summary

First in a New Series!

In London, 1811, a young woman is brutally raped and murdered, her body left on the altar steps of an ancient church. The prime suspect: Sebastian St. Cyr, a brilliant young nobleman still haunted by his experiences in the Napoleonic Wars. Now he is running for his life, desperate to catch the killer and prove his innocence. Moving from Mayfair's glittering ballrooms to St. Giles's fetid back alleys, Sebastian is assisted by a band of unlikely allies and pursued by a Machiavellian powerbroker with ties to the Prince Regent himself.

What Angels Fear seamlessly weaves an intimate knowledge of the period with a multi-layered and compelling story, and is the first of a series of novels featuring these characters.