What the Devil Knows by C.S. Harris

What the Devil Knows
by C.S. Harris

ISBN-13: 9780593102664
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Released: April 6th 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
It's October 1814. London suddenly finds itself in the grip of a series of heinous murders eerily similar to the Ratcliffe Highway murders of three years before.

In 1811, two entire families were viciously murdered in their homes. A suspect--a young seaman named John Williams--was arrested. But before he could be brought to trial, Williams hanged himself in his cell. The murders ceased, and London slowly began to breathe easier. But when the lead investigator, Sir Edwin Pym, is killed in the same brutal way three years later and others possibly connected to the original case meet violent ends, the city is paralyzed with terror once more.

Was the wrong man arrested for the murders? Bow Street magistrate Sir Henry Lovejoy turns to his friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, for assistance. Pym's colleagues are convinced his manner of death is a coincidence, but Sebastian has his doubts. The more he looks into the three-year-old murders, the more certain he becomes that the hapless John Williams was not the real killer. Which begs the question--who was and why are they dead set on killing again?


My Review:
What the Devil Knows is a mystery set in October 1814 in London. This book is the 16th in a series. You can understand it without having read the previous novels, and it didn't spoil the whodunits of the previous mysteries.

The historical information was woven into the story without slowing the pacing. It created a distinct feeling of that specific time and place and helped bring the story alive in my imagination. The characters were interesting, complex, and acted in realistic ways. Both Hero and Sebastian were involved in the investigation, though Sebastian was the main investigator. He tracked down leads and asked good questions. He pieced together the basic outline of what had happened in the past and what was occurring now. There were several suspects, and you can't fully narrow down whodunit until the final clues at the end.

Some prostitutes used crude words to briefly describe their job or their client's sexual anatomy. There were no graphic sex scenes. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting historical mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.