Book Review: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett

 

Ana and Din are called on to solve an unusual murder - one where the corpse isn't consistently at rest. Combine that with some Romeo and Juliet type plotting and you get two families at odds with each other threatening the peace of this area of the empire.

There is also more about how the empire works. This book talks about the keys to producing meat and keys for grain to feed the cattle. Din continues to be likable. Ana is weird as usual. Both Ana and Din have their observations and insights questioned before the surprising truth is revealed. I also liked the character of Fo, Din's sister. She was a surprise when he arrives in the canton. As the story goes on, the weirder things get. 

A Trade od Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett was released August 4, 2026 by Del Rey.

I gave the book 5 out of 5 stars. The world-building is excellent. With each new mystery,  new details of how the world works are revealed. The details of each mystery show wonderful imagination. 

While each mystery can be read as a standalone, the series reads better if you start at the beginning and work your way forward. The characters themselves are well detailed. And again with each new mystery, we learn more about each person. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy well-detailed people and complex characters as well as people who enjoy unusual mysteries and detailed world-building. It's defiitely worth a read. 

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect my review.

Teaser Tuesday: A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett

 

Welcome to Teaser Tuesday, the weekly Meme that wants you to add books to your TBR! You can also just share what you are currently reading. We make it very easy to play along. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3! Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Ambrosia at the Purple Booker.

1: Grab your current read. 2: Open to a random page. 3: Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title and author so that other people can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teaser!

 "We attend this, ma'am," I said, "because the murder suspect is of another gentryclan. The two families are now on the verge of outright war. One death may become dozens, if not hundreds."

"But none would be interesting!"she said.

The I is the narrator, Din. The she is the brilliant investigator, Ana. And, Ana is complaining that the investigation into the death is too straight forward and not worthy of her brilliance and attention.

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett was released August 4, 2026 by Del Rey. It is the third book in the Ana and Din mysteries series.

What have you been reading?

Happy Book Birthday to A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

 

Today is the day that the second Ana and Din mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett comes out from Del Rey! 

From the publisher:

The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.

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.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is the first book in the series. It is inventive in terms of world building as well as the crime. It has some  good twists as well. I really enjoyed it and I expect that I will enjoy this one as well. 

Check out this series for intriguing fantasy mysteries!