Beasts in Velvet

Read this on the heels of a Drachenfels reread and expected a good twist near the end. Readers looking for Genevieve Dieudonne will be disappointed. She and her playwright lover do appear, but barely, and are, for the most part, superfluous to the plot.

This is a mystery, almost a procedural, with a seer taking the place of a forensics expert. Wound up with this is the story of the commoners of Altdorf being stirred up for revolution, making things all the hairier for the group trying to solve the mystery as they're led by one aristocrat and suspect another might be their prey. I'm a sucker for characters who are the best at what they do, and I'm given a great duelist in this novel who is quite satisfying. He's regularly given a chance to show his stuff thanks to his beautiful, difficult, and slander-magnet sister. Wonderful characters including two ambassadors who couldn't be more different and some good guys who are actually good in this bad, bad world. I got my twist and it was a great one.