Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme that was hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss upcoming and unreleased books that book bloggers are excited about. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Breaking the Spine. I’ll be changing up the format of these posts soon, while still keeping the posts regular. For right now, though, here’s my Can’t Wait Wednesday #3!
Title: The Tainted Cup
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Genres: Fantasy/Mystery
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: Feb. 6, 2024
Page Count: 432
Synopsis:
In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears–quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.
Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.
As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.
If I was to make a list of my favorite authors, Robert Jackson Bennett would definitely be on it. Foundryside is peak sci-fantasy. His novella, Vigilance, will forever be one of my favorite books. To say I’m excited for his next release is a bit of an understatement. And the fact that this one is a fantasy setting, a mystery plot, and with Watson and Holmes-style investigators? Yeah, I’m very excited. I have an ARC of this one, which I plan on reading over the upcoming Christmas holidays.
What books are you looking forward to? Have you read anything by Robert Jackson Bennett?
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