Iz Wilby is adamant that she will never work for the Crown. And, in Josiah Bancroft’s novel, The Hexologists, we learn just why Iz resists taking the job pitched to her by the king’s secretary. What starts as a relatively simple case of finding out if a blackmailer really is the king’s illegitimate child turns into a deadly game of magic and skullduggery. Thankfully for us readers, it’s enormously entertaining to watch it all unfold.
Iz Wilby and her husband, Warren, make their living solving small mysteries, generally cases that no one else can solve. Unlike other detectives who can puzzle out the impossible, Iz and Warren rely on magic to find invisible clues, question ghosts, and other methods that would send Holmes straight to the asylum. (They also turn to Iz’s mother, a librarian extraordinaire, more than once—which pleased me no end. I love seeing a fellow librarian in fiction.) The mystery is The Hexologists is nice and twisty, too, which provides a solid foundation for all the flights of imagination on display here.
Not only does The Hexologists offer a great mystery and an even better setting, it also serves as a fantastic opener for what I hope is a long series. Each of the bits of magic Iz deploys and every new clue the Wilbies uncover offers a glimpse at an incredibly rich world. I wanted to know more about everything in this book, even though it was definitely a satisfying read on its own.
Readers looking for a magical weekend or an escape from a humdrum week should definitely pick this one up.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.