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A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett Published by Random House Worlds on April 1, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Epic, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Traditional
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Bookshop
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.
“Wonderfully clever and compulsively readable . . . another winning blend of fantasy and classic detection.”—Publishers Weekly
In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.
Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat.
I’m terribly behind on reviews (again), so I’m just going to say this: this book was everything I didn’t know I wanted in a sequel and I hope this series continues for a long time. A unique premise, a vibrant voice, and a captivating story all at the same time can be pretty rare. This series has it.
The first in this series, The Tainted Cup, was quite cathartic for it’s bizarrely murdered, privileged nobility and bureaucrats. Rather than up the catharsis (which, frankly, is a shame), this book burrows further into the world building. The mysterious Shroud is the powerhouse of the Empire, where the might and magic of the titanic creatures of the first book are harvested and distilled into the potions and elements that keep things powered. If the Shroud is threatened, the Empire is threatened… and the Shroud is being threatened.
Politics, locked door mysteries, and deadly swamps… what more do you need?
