**I’m sure there will be misspelling, I had to work off audio pronunciation.

This series, the Sins of the Cities, came out in 2017. For some reason I wasn’t reading much K J Charles at that time, but over the last few years I’ve been exploring authors who put their books into audio format a lot more. I’ve discovered with much happiness that Charles has a lot of audiobooks.

Overall Narration: I really love Matthew Lloyd Davies, aka Cornell Collins, as a narrator. Seeing he is British, and Charles’ books appear to be predominantly set in England, I’ve learned it’s a match made in audio heaven for me. It isn’t just that though, he always makes a book an outstanding experience. It’s like listening to radio plays of old, sans sound effects. Yes, that ages me.  

The Sins of the Cities is a trilogy. It starts well with An Unseen Attraction. The fog enveloping London is so well written throughout – the grime it leaves on windows, ceilings, the mucky streets, the incomprehensible difficulty to see your hand in front of your face. The fog is also used to get away with murder.

Clem Talleyfer, pronounced Tyerfer, runs a boarding house. His half-brother, The Earl of Moreton, allows Clem to manage the house but doesn’t give him ownership, leaving Clem happy in what he does but without security. And the elder Talleyfer is a grandiose twat to Clem because their father sexually assaulted Clem’s (Indian) mother, and he was the resultant biracial son/brother. Awful how people could (still do) blame things on the female and their children. One of Clem’s boarders, a former clergyman and current annoyance, Ludtrout, is left dead at the doorstep of the boarding house – having first been tortured first. Not long after, one of Clem’s boarders, Rowley Green, discovers his taxidermist shop a mess with a man still there who’s started a fire. Rowley and the man tussle, the unknown man escapes but gives Rowley a hell of a fright. Why would someone do this? Are these things connected? This starts a whole chain of murder/mystery events for the trilogy.

While Clem is sweet natured, he could be so stubborn about his rude, overbearing, threatening brother, insisting he’s done right by him. Technically Clem isn’t wrong because class system, but ethically Edmund’s an arsehole. I really loved Rowley. He was raised by a father who was hanged for murder. He was an angry, violent father and Rowley doesn’t handle angry, violent people. Clem, however, is genteel, and, Rowley suspects, interested in men. That suits Rowley just fine. Their evening fireside chats and camaraderie have developed over months into more intimacy than just friendship alone. Clem has friends at a local (affirming) pub, The Jack & Knave, and he takes Rowley along. After initially telling him they’re keeping an eye out to make sure Rowley’s intentions toward Clem are solid, he soon becomes one of the gang. Their friends support Clem and Rowley after the murder and the arson attempt on Rowley’s shop. They also decide to take action to find out who the real heir to the Moreton estate is. Overall, this develops into a really good romance and that romance is wrapped up in this book. However, the murder/mystery, which I was enjoying, does end on a cliffhanger. The same as the Earl’s next in line. They are both trilogy arcs.   

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An Unnatural Vice is Nathaniel and Justin’s story. They are the OG Odd Couple. I liked their relationship. Nathaniel the son of an Archbishop. Of Canterbury? I’m not sure. His life has been one of privilege. He studied law but decided to become an investigative journalist. He has the luxury of a house he can come and go from while also living in the heart of London for the most part. Justin has come from poverty but learned his ‘trade’ of spiritualist from his ‘master,’ also a well known spiritualist until he drank himself into oblivion. Now, Justin is the Seer of London and he puts on a good show. Nathaniel is determined to expose him and his ilk via his journalism. He sets up meetings to observe what Justin does. He knows Justin is a fraud but he’s good. Very good. Nathaniel wants to know how he’s doing this sophisticated chicanery.

Both men end up involved in the murder/mystery left over from book #1. Nathaniel, by writing stories that put eyes on the murder and the names of some people who could know more. Justin, because he had an encounter with a person who holds a key piece to the puzzle of rightful inheritance. What starts as enemies turns into lovers. Justin likes that Nathaniel is intelligent, isn’t a sucker, and Nathaniel likes Justin’s eyes, his sharp wit, his cunning. While Nathaniel is an upstanding, law abiding citizen, Justin believes that if people are so willing to part with their coin quickly, he’ll help them. What’s the difference between him and the church putting their hand out for a show and a story? It may seem easy to judge Justin, he’s absolutely questionable, but the class system and abject poverty in England was very real. People had to eke out a living as best they could. It’s one of the most interesting parts of this series, how these individual characters earn a living. 

The first book’s murders and the Earl’s estate, are a continuing thread. Justin has visual information so someone kidnaps him. After he escapes, because he’s nothing if not street smart, he and Nathaniel, because the latter is bringing pressure down around the Earl’s real heir, need to get out of London. The murderer(s) appear to be closing in just like the ongoing fog. As an aside, I loved that Justin is Susan Lazarus’s ‘father.’ Not biologically but he had her working for him and he took care of her like he was her dad. She was a secondary character in Any Old Diamonds, and I recently listened to Gilded Cage, Susan’s own story. It’s interesting to see twelve-year-old Suki here, knowing how her story ends later on. 

While this ends happily for Justin and Nathaniel, the murderer/s is/are still out there, and the heir is yet to be sorted. The arcs continue. On to the next book.

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All the series books have lovely covers but An Unsuitable Heir‘s is the most striking, in my opinion. It’s eye catching.   

I had no clue that Mark Braglewicz would be this dashing leading man. Not dashing in the typical sense of the word people use in romance books. He is so open, so loving, so giving, so patient, so respectful, and I find those things dashing. 

Mark is a rough and ready, no nonsense private enquiry agent, like a Victorian era PI. Mark is written the best possible way for someone who is a straight shooter. He isn’t rude or mean-spirited. He is, in the correct sense of the term, to the point, direct without being insulting. That Mark, who knows a thing or two about feeling different – this is 1870s London and he was born with one arm – falls for Pen, a genderqueer flying trapeze artist who may or may not be the next Earl of Moreton, is sheer poetry. Especially given Mark’s mother has always been an anarchist. Loved that little piece. Mark is pansexual – anything and anyone and how they like it is Mark’s motto, as long as there’s respect. This intrigues Pen.

Pen is deftly written by K J Charles. Sometimes Pen feels more masculine, other times more feminine, so Pen’s body parts can’t always match their feelings and it causes dysphoria. Mark takes the time to understand. They both do. I loved how they communicated. How they could best see the other’s perspective or feelings. Pen and their twin sister, Greta, are close. They have each other’s backs, have done since fourteen. They’re the Flying Starlings. Being in the cirque allows Pen to paint their face and wear frilly things and have – unfashionably for ‘men’ – long hair, which Mark absolutely loves, along with Pen’s physique. 

While it very much looks like Pen is the heir to the Moreton estate, Pen doesn’t want to be an Earl. There are a number of other people in the Talleyfer family that might not want Pen to be found let alone be Earl either. 

This was my favourite of the trilogy. The writing is of such a high quality. All threads are perfectly tied up. I’m sorry I didn’t read this book because I could have clipped some brilliant quotes and used them, but Mathew Lloyd Davies is at the top of his game here with his accents, making all the characters so unique. So while I’d like to supply some of the outstanding writing via quotes, I can’t. However, I’ll always choose the audio version when Matthew Lloyd Davies, aka Cornell Collins, is narrating.
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Overall, this trilogy is quality writing with quality narration. There is diversity throughout the books. If you haven’t read them or listened to them, I highly recommend the Sins of the Cities trilogy.