Emmalyn Renato's Reviews > The Tainted Cup

My selection for the Reddit Fantasy 2024 Bingo 'Reference Materials' square (hard mode). Another multi-genre (fantasy, murder mystery, thriller, coming-of-age) book from Bennett. We start off with investigator Ana Dolabra and her new assistant, Dinios Kol investigating the bizarre murder of a high imperial officer in a grand mansion, but quickly grows to a much bigger story. It's set in an Empire, where humans are augmented with special skills and abilities, where contagions abound and leviathans roam off the shores threatening catastrophic disaster during the yearly wet season.

You will get Holmes and Watson vibes from the two main characters, but according to the author in the acknowledgments section, Ana is based more on Nero Wolfe and Hannibal Lecter. There was the usual brilliant inventiveness, unique plot situations and quirky humor I've come to expect from Bennett. It's one of the best books I've read this year, and if there were more like it, I would have gone straight on to them. If it doesn't win one or more awards next year, I will be very much surprised. Highly recommended.

(Other 2024 Bingo squares that this would fit: Published in 2024; Character with a Disability (HM)).