{"id":26580,"date":"2026-04-18T10:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=26580"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:33:16","slug":"the-perfect-crimes-of-marian-hayes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26580","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes<\/em> (2022) Cat Sebastian<\/a> (London Highwaymen #2)<\/p>\n

\"TheThe second book in the London Highwaymen series takes place concurrently with The Queer Principles of Kit Webb<\/em> but from Marian and Rob’s points of view.<\/p>\n

We learn why Marian hates the duke (her husband) so much, why she married the duke in the first place, and of her part in the plans to blackmail the duke that ends in his death.<\/p>\n

Marian is far better suited to killing than Percy, even if she doesn’t escape the murder unscathed. <\/p>\n

She was vaguely aware that she was uncomfortable, but the discomfort of her body seemed to be taking place many miles away and possibly to somebody else.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My favorite part of the book was reading the letters Marian and Rob wrote to each other, starting with the first blackmail letter.<\/p>\n

You may be interested to know that Dante placed blackmailers in the eighth circle of hell, where they were thrown into boiling pits of tar and guarded by demons armed with grappling claws (or possibly hooks; I am not in the mood for accurate translation). <\/p>\n

Your mortal enemy, Marian, Duchess of Clare<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I will gladly educate you regarding Dante and any other poets of the Italian vernacular who strike your fancy. My fee is five hundred pounds, payable immediately. <\/p>\n

Your mortal enemy, Marian, Duchess of Clare<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

May I humbly suggest being less of an idiot and doing whatever it takes to make amends with your friends? Or perhaps find some new ones? You are clearly terrible at being alone (I am excellent at it; I will give you lessons for the reasonable fee of five hundred pounds).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What didn’t work for me was, essentially, the conclusion. Yes, it’s a reworking of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, but I had a difficult time believing all the robbing was going to work out the way they thought. Yes, the wealthy getting their comeuppance was an important part of the happy ending, but with all the work the story put into the dangers of pregnancy and how terrible the aristocracy was, their solutions just felt a bit too pat, falling into place without much effort.<\/p>\n

It wasn’t a bad story, not at all, I just found the ending unsatisfying.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Marian Hayes, Rob Brooks, Kit Webb, Edward Percy Talbot, Eliza Talbot, Duke of Clare, Dinah, Earl of Eynsham, Sir John Fanshawe, Marcus Hayes, Netley, Hester, Alice, Betty, Mistress Scarlett<\/p>\n

Cover illustration by Bri Neumann<\/p>\n

Publisher: Avon<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes (2022) Cat Sebastian (London Highwaymen #2) The second book in the London Highwaymen series takes place concurrently with The Queer Principles of Kit Webb but from Marian and Rob’s points of view. We learn why Marian hates the duke (her husband) so much, why she married the duke in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,30,938,292,204,33,207,742,148,26,56],"tags":[50,147,721,940,646],"class_list":["post-26580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-british","category-dual-point-of-view","category-ebook","category-good","category-historical","category-mental-health-rep","category-physical-health","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-boinking","tag-cat-sebastian","tag-dementia","tag-london-highwaymen","tag-pregnancy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-6UI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26551,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26551","url_meta":{"origin":26580,"position":0},"title":"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb","author":"Michelle","date":"April 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb (2021) Cat Sebastian (London Highwaymen #1) Set in England in 1751 \u201cI\u2019ve already told you what I think. Paying the blackmailer is letting your father get away with it. I want to make him suffer,\u201d Marian added with a degree of relish Percy found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-Queer-Principles-of-Kit-Webb-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17585,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17585","url_meta":{"origin":26580,"position":1},"title":"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb","author":"Michelle","date":"July 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Queer Principles of Kit Webb (2021) Cat Sebastian Set in England in 1751. After a carriage hold up that cost him the full use of his leg as well as his best friend, Kit Webb decided to take over the running of his coffee shop. 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This time I went in thinking fantasy rom com\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Something Fabulous","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Something-Fabulous-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19725,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19725","url_meta":{"origin":26580,"position":3},"title":"Something Fabulous","author":"Michelle","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Something Fabulous (2022) Alexis Hall (Something Fabulous) Set in Historical England. To be honest, I don't think this is historical England as much as fantasy historical England. Which is fine, since as he says in the author's note, almost everyone in the story is queer. 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All Ash knew was what Roger had told him:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/A-Duke-in-Disguise.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25628,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25628","url_meta":{"origin":26580,"position":5},"title":"The Ruin of a Rake","author":"Michelle","date":"January 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ruin of a Rake (2017) Cat Sebastian (The Turner Series, #3) Set in London in 1817 \u201cYou ordered tea,\u201d Courtenay said. \u201cI like tea,\u201d Julian responded. \u201cYou like sugary milk.\u201d Courtenay, as if to demonstrate the point, poured about an inch of tea into Julian\u2019s cup and then added\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ruin of a Rake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/The-Ruin-of-a-Rake-189x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26583,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26580\/revisions\/26583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}