Din Kol and Ana Dolabra return in A Trade of Blood, by Robert Jackson Bennett, for their third investigation. This case puts them in the middle of a brewing feud between two powerful families that produce much of the Empire’s food. If Din and Ana can’t stop the two families from trying to wipe each other out, a lot of people are going to starve. And, as always with the pair’s cases, their killer (or killers) have devised an ingeniously gruesome murder weapon to commit their crimes.
To begin, there is no doubt that a scion of the Armenta family killed a scion of the rival Burov clan. Castus Armenta was captured while fleeing, covered in his victim’s blood, and does not deny that he killed Zansay Burov. No one knows why, not even Castus himself. It doesn’t take Ana and Din to figure out that Castus and Zansay were lovers (very Romeo and Juliet). Din goes to work questioning everyone and poking around crime scenes for evidence to relate to Ana later, so that she can piece together what happened. I don’t want to say too much more because any further details will spoil the mystery.
Bennett surprised Din by introducing us to Fotia, one of his sisters. Fotia is engaged to an Armenta and is rapidly pulled into Ana and Din’s investigation. Din had not spoken to a member of his family for years. He’s merely sent money to support them and to pay off his father’s debts. It seems that Din has been feeling a bit resentful of his surviving family. He took their lack of communication as a sign that they didn’t care about the sacrifice he made in becoming an engraver. That burden has been heavier of late because Din’s vast memories of his cases have been talking back to him. No wonder Din is even more frazzled than usual: he has to deal with awkward family stuff and parts of his brain are giving him unsolicited advice.
The crime at the center of A Trade of Blood isn’t as fiendishly clever as what we’ve seen in previous books. Ana is correct that most people don’t kill each other for exotic reasons, even if they use exotic means to dispatch their victims. That said, it’s a treat to visit another part of the Empire and see how science and alchemy have been used to work disturbing marvels. I also appreciated the added character development Bennett provides for Din. I didn’t mind that the mystery was less complicated when I was so richly rewarded with the setting and psychological development. Fans of the series will enjoy A Trade of Blood as much as I did, I daresay.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.