When the Wolves Are Silent

Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries, Book 21

De: C. S. Harris

A brutal string of ritualistic killings terrorizes a city already shaken by economic and political turmoil in this chilling new historical mystery from C. S. Harris, USA Today bestselling author of Who Will Remember.

London, 1816: When a notorious young aristocrat is burned alive on a windswept hill popular with neo-Druids, former cavalry officer Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, finds himself plunged into a murder investigation shadowed by tales of ancient human sacrifices and long-buried secrets.

The victim, Marcus Toole, was the only son and heir of a prominent nobleman. His closest friend—Sebastian’s own nephew, Bayard—claims to have passed out drunk before the attack and remembers nothing. But when Sebastian and his brilliant wife, Hero, delve deeper into the sordid activities of Bayard and his friends, they come to realize that Bayard may not be as innocent as he pretends. Following a tangled trail that leads from a disaffected former soldier-turned-highwayman to a beautiful, courageous journalist and a Jamaican-born fencing master with ties to a radical political movement, Sebastian begins to suspect that Bayard and his friends are being targeted in revenge, by victims who believe they have no other recourse.

Then two more of Bayard’s friends are killed, their murders staged to echo the ritual sacrifices of the ancient Celts. With the palace shaken by the fear of riots and one horrifying death following another, Sebastian must race to stop a ruthless plot that threatens the lives of innocents and could rip his troubled nation apart.

©2026 C. S. Harris (P)2026 Recorded Books

An excellent continuation of the series!

I’m still reeling from that ending. It ends on a positive note, which you just never know with these books. But the revelation right before the last page? Really makes you think.

This book takes place roughly three months after the previous book, now November 1816.

This story does speak to the state of the world today, and it’s sad how timely it feels because that’s not really a good thing that history just keeps repeating itself. London is on the verge of a revolt with the economic downturn after the war with France. Soldiers returning home can’t find jobs, jobs sustained by the war have dried up. People are starving as the rich are getting richer. And on top of all that, we see the wealthy and powerful get away with a lot.

I don’t know what I expected from a story I knew was going to involve Sebastian’s nephew, Bayard. We already knew all the heinous acts his father was doing and how his mother covered stuff up for them, or at the least turned a blind eye to. Now, Bayard and his five friends are the subject of a murder investigation because the friend group is getting killed off one by one by mysterious circumstances.

Look. There’s a lot of characters to keep track of and I don’t think the audiobook is the easiest way to try to keep track of each character, especially when you’re dealing with their actual birth names AND their peerage titles. We have our reoccurring characters who I do have a handle on, but also Bayard and his friend group, then all their fathers, and THEN everyone else that gets caught up in the investigation. It’s a lot of people in a relatively short book and people keep dying at every turn.

The reveals about who did what is quite convoluted to me and I’m going to need to re-read this to get a better picture of who did what and who knew what when. But the Celtic aspect and the druids were a fascinating bit thrown into the story. This book also addresses some of the last times London decides to hang, draw, quarter, and behead people, which comes across in this story as barbaric even in this era of history.

I love Sebastian and Hero’s relationship and that they’re still going strong as ever. Sebastian keeps doing his thing (solving murders) and Hero keeps doing her thing (interviewing the working poor of London and publishing their stories).

It does get brought up more directly for once to Hero about the child her and Sebastian have taken in who looks just like Sebastian (or rather his half brother). The ton thinks that Sebastian sired a bastard and how scandalous that she’s raising the child as her own. I would like to see this play out more in future books because you really don’t see their fathers addressing it or even Aunt Henrietta bringing it up in conversation but I know they’ve all got something to say.

I like that we have some closure to the child on the street Sebastian talks to as well. But what we never really got closure on is the bird Hero got into her possession in a previous book. It was here then it was not. I assume she gave it away at some point. But at least the cat is still around.

I do hope we get a story of the family going to Sebastian’s other estates. This book starts off with them coming back to town after being away for months at one of Sebastian’s other properties. I want to take an out of town trip! But I understand from a recent author interview that readers miss the whole cast of reoccurring characters you can’t simply just shift into stories that take place outside of London. So it is understandable she doesn’t write those often.

I’ve gotten more used to this newer male narrator Tom Kiteley now that I’ve had space from the rest of the series audiobooks for about a month. The voices he gives the characters don’t bother me as much like they did before. He’s also pretty good at accents. I hope he’s kept on as the permanent narrator for the books from now on.

I can’t wait for the next book in this series! But until then I’m going to have to find some other historical mysteries to read.

Excellent

This is by far my favorite series and this new novel did not disappoint. I tried to drag it out because I just didn’t want it to end lol. I love how Tom Kiteley narrated and though I love Davina Porter and Jenny Sterlin I think Tom gave Sebastian the perfect voice. I can’t wait for book 22!

Good but not Great

I have really enjoyed this series and heartily recommend them. However, this latest book was entirely centered on the murder mystery and there was nothing "personal" to give it an additional dimension. The author seems intent on stringing the readers along regarding Sebastian's biological father, Hero's mother and potential spy for a stepmother and the poor doctor - how long must he suffer with addiction? Nothing was added to any of these storylines - and it will probably be another year before the next installment. As a loyal reader, I feel cheated a bit.

The personal storyline makes a "good" book "great"! These books have become a bit formulaic - Sebastian always gets trailed by villains and he always overtakes them. Maybe the author just "phoned it in" this time.

I love this series!

Great story again from CS Harris. This is one of my favorite series and I can’t wait for the next installment. Keep up the great work. Tom Kiteley does a great job narrating.