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latad_books 's review for:
A Restless Truth
by Freya Marske
Using the conventions of a murder mystery set in a manor and a tight timeline, Freya Marske brings Robin's younger sister Maud Blythe to centre stage in this follow-up to her first book.
Maud is helping her brother Robin by posing as a companion to an elderly woman on a ship returning to Britain from New York City. Mrs. Navenby is murdered by magic, and Maud immediately realizes that the murderer is aboard and in possession of the dead woman's silver hand mirror and hairbrush. Maud knows why various magicians were targeting this elderly woman (and one in book one): she was in possession of item(s) making up the Contract between the Fae and magicians.
Maud decides to investigate, though she's never done anything like this before, and engages the acerbic Lord Hawthorne, who is also on board, as well as an actor/magician, Violet Debenham. Violet is returning to England after working for years in the U.S. She's heading home to claim a fortune left to her by Lady Enid Blackwood.
As Maud and Violet work together, interrogating passengers and crew, the two women develop feelings for each other, and have several steamy encounters, while also trying to figure out who killed Mrs. Navenby.
Maud emerges as a really interesting character, and I’m so glad Marske brought her to the forefront in this book. In fact, I enjoyed this book much more than book one, partly because I understood the stakes already, and partly because I liked Maud more than Robin.
Maud develops interesting detective and other useful skills that will probably come in handy in book three, as there are still several magicians eager to steal the Contract away from the nobodies (i.e., women performing unconventional magic) who have been safeguarding the objects for years. I also liked how well Marske handled the developing relationship between Maud and Violet. I dearly hope these two feature in the next book in this series.
Maud is helping her brother Robin by posing as a companion to an elderly woman on a ship returning to Britain from New York City. Mrs. Navenby is murdered by magic, and Maud immediately realizes that the murderer is aboard and in possession of the dead woman's silver hand mirror and hairbrush. Maud knows why various magicians were targeting this elderly woman (and one in book one): she was in possession of item(s) making up the Contract between the Fae and magicians.
Maud decides to investigate, though she's never done anything like this before, and engages the acerbic Lord Hawthorne, who is also on board, as well as an actor/magician, Violet Debenham. Violet is returning to England after working for years in the U.S. She's heading home to claim a fortune left to her by Lady Enid Blackwood.
As Maud and Violet work together, interrogating passengers and crew, the two women develop feelings for each other, and have several steamy encounters, while also trying to figure out who killed Mrs. Navenby.
Maud emerges as a really interesting character, and I’m so glad Marske brought her to the forefront in this book. In fact, I enjoyed this book much more than book one, partly because I understood the stakes already, and partly because I liked Maud more than Robin.
Maud develops interesting detective and other useful skills that will probably come in handy in book three, as there are still several magicians eager to steal the Contract away from the nobodies (i.e., women performing unconventional magic) who have been safeguarding the objects for years. I also liked how well Marske handled the developing relationship between Maud and Violet. I dearly hope these two feature in the next book in this series.