WHEN BLOOD LIES

A son searches for his mother’s killer on the cusp of Napoleon’s triumphant return to Paris.

March 1815 finds Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, in Paris with his wife, Hero, searching for the mother he’d long thought dead. Sebastian was born to Sophia, Countess of Hendon, and is the heir of the Fifth Earl of Hendon, but he's not the earl's natural son. For years he thought his mother was lost at sea only to learn she’d actually left his father and her children behind. His search for her has been made more difficult by the war raging across Europe, but with Napoleon in exile, he’s finally learned that she’s returned from Vienna to Paris using the alias Sophia Cappello. He’s crushed to find her bloody body near the home he’s renting, stabbed and thrown off the Pont Neuf. She dies before they can speak, and he vows to find the killer. Sophia has lately been mistress to Alexandre McClellan, formerly one of Napoleon’s marshals. The Bourbons are back in power, and France is restless under their rule, which is returning to the fanaticism of the monarchy before the revolution. The authorities seem determined to call Sophia’s death an accident, but Sebastian suspects politics are involved when he learns that Sophia had visited Elba before returning to Paris. A painting of McClellan inside her house, which he’s inherited, makes Sebastian wonder if the subject is his real father. The discovery of his mother’s reticule and then a jeweled leather bag sets him on a tortuous and dangerous search for the truth played out against the turmoil of Napoleon’s attempt to regain control of France.

The detailed historical narrative blends seamlessly with a complex, fast-paced mystery.