1–What is the title of your latest release?
WHO CRIES FOR THE LOST. It’s #18 in my Sebastian St. Cyr series (and yes, I can’t believe I’m at #18!)
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
I’ve never been very good at these, but here it goes: When the mutilated body of an earl’s son with a treacherous past and ties to anatomist Paul Gibson’s mysterious French lover is pulled from the Thames, Sebastian St. Cyr must plunge into a sinister world of espionage and ancient folklore in order to save his best friend from being hanged for murder.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
In my former life as a history professor, my area of specialty was the French Revolution and Napoleonic Period. But when I thought about setting a mystery series in, say, Paris during the revolution, I quite frankly decided it would be too depressing. So I moved across the Channel to Regency England. Same general period, much more pleasant. This particular book takes place against the backdrop of the days leading up to Waterloo, as the population of London waits anxiously to hear the results of what everyone knows will be an epic battle.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Oh, definitely! I’ve been in love with Sebastian for over twenty years. (My husband understands.)
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Smart. Sexy. Heroic.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
While I knew vaguely about what happened to the French prisoners of war (including some women and children) stranded on Cabrera, I had no idea just how awful it was. Think 20,000 Robinson Crusoe’s deliberately marooned on a desert island but without Crusoe’s handy shipwreck as an endless source of food, supplies, and tools.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I go along, rereading constantly, so that by the time I write the last chapter I usually only need to go back and do a quick cleanup or maybe insert a scene or two I’ve realized I need. I know most how-to books say not to do that, but it works for me. I think everyone needs to find the process that is right for them.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Belgian chocolates.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
We’ve recently moved into a new house post Hurricane Ida, and my office is in what the floor plan calls the “media room.” Picture a wall of bookcases, a wall of windows, the old Australian cedar table I’ve used as a desk for nearly thirty years, a nice comfy sofa and armchair, and the old Italian coffee table my parents had when I was a kid. It’s slowly coming together, but I really miss the fireplace and French doors to the courtyard of my old office in New Orleans.
10–Who is an author you admire?
James Lee Burke. I will forever be in awe of his characterizations and ability to create a sense of time and place.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
I’d say the books I read as a child probably had the greatest impact on me—books like The Prince and the Pauper, The Three Musketeers, Treasure Island, and Kidnapped. They fired my imagination and set me off on a lifelong love affair with adventure stories.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was living in Australia at the time and was flying back home after spending Christmas in New Orleans with my mother. I was sorta expecting something to happen, so when I landed in Adelaide and my husband told me my agent had called, I suspected what it was about. When she called back, and I heard it was real—and all the details—I was literally leaping all over the house. And I went around with a huge grin plastered on my face for weeks. What an incredible high.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I probably read more nonfiction than anything else (old history prof here!). After that, thrillers, and mysteries. I also read classic literature, either works I somehow missed or ones I read in my teens and twenties and would like to revisit.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
It’s a tie between Raiders of the Lost Arc and Indiana Jones and the Final Crusade. (Before switching to history, I started out in archaeology and spent several years digging around the world.)
15–What is your favorite season?
When I lived in places like England, France, Idaho, and Colorado, it was summer. Now that I live in the American South, it’s autumn. The summers here are not pleasant.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A nice meal—either at home or out—with my family. And cake. I do like cake.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished Amy Kelly’s Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings. A beautifully written exploration of an amazing woman’s incredible life.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
French. I spent a year in Paris and inevitably fell in love with the food. Also, I’m allergic to peppers (capsicum), so any cuisine that uses a lot of peppers is a no-go for me.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Free time? What’s that?! Since we’ve recently moved, my “free time” has mostly gone to unpacking, painting, and starting a garden. When I do have time, I’ve developed an interest in making jewelry. And someday I’d like to get back to painting pictures—as opposed to walls and bookcases.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’ve just finished writing the nineteenth Sebastian St. Cyr, WHAT CANNOT BE SAID (the title is from the Sappho fragment, “What cannot be said must be wept”), which will be out in April of 2024. I’ve now started plotting #20, which is set in August of 1816, the “year without a summer.” It’s a fascinating period to explore because the weather was going crazy, and since no one had any idea what was causing it (a massive volcanic eruption), many people believed the world was ending. When you think about it, you realize just how terrifying that must have seemed.
WHO CRIES FOR THE LOST by C.S. Harris
Sebastian St. Cyr Series #18
Sebastian St. Cyr must confront a savage killer and save his closest friend from the hangman’s noose in this heart-pounding new historical mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of When Blood Lies.
June 1815. The people of London wait, breathlessly, for news as Napoleon and the forces united against him hurtle toward their final reckoning at Waterloo. Among them is Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, frustrated to find himself sidelined while recovering from a dangerous wound he recently received in Paris. When the mutilated corpse of Major Miles Sedgewick surfaces from the murky waters of the Thames, Sebastian is drawn into the investigation of a murder that threatens one of his oldest and dearest friends, Irish surgeon Paul Gibson.
Gibson’s lover, Alexi Sauvage, was tricked into a bigamous marriage with the victim. But there are other women who may have wanted the cruel, faithless Major dead. His mistress, his neglected wife, and their young governess who he seduced all make for compelling suspects. Even more interesting to Sebastian is one of Sedgewick’s fellow officers, a man who shared Sedgewick’s macabre interest in both old English folklore and the occult. And then there’s a valuable list of Londoners who once spied for Napoleon that Sedgewick was said to be transporting to Charles, Lord Jarvis, the Regent’s powerful cousin who also happens to be Sebastian’s own father-in-law.
The deeper Sebastian delves into Sedgewick’s life, the more he learns about the Major’s many secrets and the list of people who could have wanted him dead grows even longer. Soon others connected to Sedgewick begin to die strange, brutal deaths and more evidence emerges that links Alexi to the crimes. Certain that Gibson will be implicated alongside his lover, Sebastian finds himself in a desperate race against time to stop the killings and save his friends from the terror of the gallows.
Mystery Amateur Sleuth [Berkley, On Sale: April 18, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593102725 / eISBN: 9780593197042]
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About C.S. Harris
Candice Proctor, aka C.S. Harris and C.S. Graham, is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than a dozen novels including the Sebastian St. Cyr Regency mystery series written under the name C.S. Harris, the new C.S. Graham thriller series co-written with Steven Harris, and seven historical romances. She is also the author of a nonfiction historical study of the French Revolution. Her books are available worldwide and have been translated into over twenty different languages. Candice graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude with a degree in Classics before going on to earn an MA and Ph.D. in history. A former academic, she has taught at the University of Idaho and Midwestern State University in Texas. She also worked as an archaeologist on a variety of sites including a Hudson’s Bay Company Fort in San Juan Island, a Cherokee village in Tennessee, a prehistoric kill site in Victoria, Australia, and a Roman cemetery and medieval manor house in Winchester, England. Most recently, she spent many years as a partner in an international business consulting firm. The daughter of a career Air Force officer and university professor, Proctor loves to travel and has spent much of her life abroad. She has lived in Spain, Greece, England, France, Jordan, and Australia. She now makes her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband, retired Army officer Steve Harris, her two daughters, and an ever-expanding number of cats.
Sebastian St. Cyr Mystery
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