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Jumping ahead to three years after Leah’s disappearance from Murkmere, Aggie, her aunt, and Jethro have the estate in decent shape, given the minimal staff they have to work with. Scuff, now nearly a young woman, has been learning to read under the tutorship of Miss Jennet, and has come to lover her life at the manor. When soldiers arrive at the doors seeking girl 102 for arrest, her heart breaks. Though Aggie and Miss Jennet don’t turn her in, they all know the soldiers will return, and therefore, Scuff can’t stay. Neither will Miss Jennet allow her to say goodbye to Aggie, as she knows her niece wouldn’t want the girl to leave. Worst still, the soldiers are already returned as Scuff makes away, and they can’t open the door at the back of the property through which she’s meant to escape. Her escape takes place instead in the old Master’s flying machine, though Scuff and all onlookers are sure she’s plunging to her death when they see the contraption come through the window of the tower.
With only vague memories of wings, Scuff awakes in a foreign place. Time passes, and eventually she is well enough to sit up and move about. She finds she’s on the Wasteland, in the home of Gadd, a healer, brought to him by his son Erland, who found Scuff amidst the wreckage of the machine. Scuff, not looking forward to her new life in Poorgrass Keyes, is reluctant to leave the Wasteland. Especially when she begins to develop feelings for Erland. Gadd attempts to send her on her way, but Scuff manages to stretch her stay out indeterminately. Only when soldiers arrive in the Wasteland can she delay her departure no longer.
Sadly, her fears about Poorgrass Kayes come to life immediately, as the young boy sent to help her find her way takes her instead to a brothel. Luckily, Scuff manages to enlist his help in an escape plan as well. Unluckily, her plan falls apart, and she finds herself at a slave market, where Gravengate Home, the orphanage from which she escaped years ago, claims her for recompense. She takes some, but little, comfort in the fact that the women who’ve claimed her are her old coworkers from Murkmere, Dog and Mistress Crumplin.
Yet another soldier arrives at the home to take Scuff away. But instead of being arrested, she’s offered a deal. Kill the son of the Lord Protector, win her freedom. She agrees. But the dagger she carries around in her boot throughout her stay at the palace weighs heavily on her.
And wrapped up in all this plotting is the mystery of Scuff’s true name and heritage–facts which she forgot long ago, if she ever knew them. Only her involvement in so much scheming brings the truth slowly to light.
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In another break from her Lydia Chin/Bill Smith mystery series, Rozan has chosen the last big parcel of NYC owned land as the focus of her latest mystery. Three Star is developing a Bronx project (Mott Haven) to prove it has the capacity to tackle the last city owned parcel in the Bronx. Garden Walls, a community organization comprised of black businessmen, bankers and clergy, wants the project thrown their way rather than be given to rich white men seeking to gentrify Harlem at the expense of its black residents.
A series of accidents, including the death of a black woman, at Mott Haven result in the Department of Investigations officer Ann Montgomery being assigned to the case. Montgomery’s partner (Joe Cole) had been convicted 3 years earlier of investigative fraud, is now out on parole and living upstate. Montgomery has a lifelong antipathy to devloper Walter Glybenthal, the only publicly known partner in Three Star.
The narrative travels back and forth between Harlem, Manhatten and upstate New York, following Ann in her investigation. Insurance fraud, murder, political corruption, rogue law enforcement are all elements of a plot that gathers steam as the layers of deceit unfold.
Montgomery suffers from the willfulness of most female investigators in pursuit of their prey, though I only once found myself wanting to shake her for going off on her own - disregarding the other players helping to trap her villain. Justice of a kind is done and the ending holds a surprise. Rozan writes a good story, and gardens provide a nice background for the good guys.
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Aggie Cotter has mixed feelings about her new job at Murkmere. Though she was loathing the idea of wasting her life in the village as a spinner, upon her arrival at Murkmere’s imposing gates, her future there seems somewhat less exotic and a little more frightening.
Even though the handsome Silas Seed is the one to open said gates for here, she finds herself unable to enter, for fear of the rooks nesting on the grounds. Silas reminds her that rooks nesting near a place are an omen of good luck, and while pondering the contradictions within the Table of Significance, Aggie enters the estate and follows him to the house.
Immediately, she sense that life here will not be overly pleasant. The housekeeper seems to have taken an immediate dislike to her, and most of the rest of the household staff have the same air about them. All but the little girl Scuff.
As for Miss Leah, whom she has been employed to be companion to, their first encounter involved Leah telling Aggie to pack her things and get out.
The Master of course disagrees, setting Leah into even more of a huff, but she manages to tolerate Aggie, and eventually they even form a friendship. Sadly, when Aggie takes drastic measures to protect Leah from dangers she can’t see, she loses her hard-won friendship. Life at Murkmere then becomes desolate indeed.
Aggie continues to try to watch over Leah as best she can, even though the girl wants little to do with her. With the Master’s health failing and Leah’s birthday ball upcoming, there is much to be done around the manner. With her hard work, Aggie seems to work her way slowly back into Leah’s good graces. Still, for all their hard work an planning, the big day ends in disaster. And not only for Aggie and Leah–much ill also befalls those who had been plotting against them.
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Picking up not long after the wars have ended, this latest Book of Bayern tells the tale of two countries trying to restore themselves to peace.
Bayern is uncomfortable with the idea presented to them–that Tira would like to send an ambassador to stay with them, and would like the Bayern to do the same. But as Queen, Isi feels she must try. After all, it’s easy to consider someone an enemy when you know nothing of them. It’s harder when you know they could be a friend.
Razo, who often questions his position in the King’s Own, as do the rest of the Own, is chosen to be among the 50 Bayern to make the trip. Much to his dismay, his friend Enna is chosen as well. After her part in the war, Razo feels this is unwise, but Enna feels she needs to go, and Isi seems to agree.
Razo finds his misgivings come to life early into their journey. While wandering around the camp where they awaited the Tiran, he stumbled upon a body burnt to a crisp. He tells only Captain Talone, who helps him to dump it in the river.
Now even more worried about his friend, Razo’s fate turns even bleaker when the Tiran arrive, and a fight immediately ensues.
The soldier who stabs him is left behind to starve, but his friend is still with them, and most definitely would waste no opportunity to finish what his companion had started.
Indeed, many more attacks on the Bayern are attempted while they stay in Tira. And more mysterious burned bodies found. Razo, set to spy the answers out by Talone, is in a race against time, trying to prove his old friend isn’t part of all the evil. He hopes equally that his new one isn’t either.
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Paski Archuleta is absolutely certain her father has lost his mind. He went to LA for talks–there’s interest in making his popular comic Squeegee Man into a movie. He came back an entirely different person. New clothes, shades, teeth, attitude, vocabulary, and diet. She has no idea what to think. But she doesn’t have long to ponder it either, since there’s an even bigger bombshell in all this. They’re moving. The movie is going to happen, and he needs to be there to work on it ASAP. As in, now.
Leaving Taos does not thrill Paski in the least. Her dad sees adventure, Paski sees disaster. New Mexico, California is not. Although upon arriving she realizes they might have more in common than she first thought. In scenery at any rate. Which is pretty much where it ends.
In Cali, all drivers appear to be maniacs. All cars are luxury. All roads are 6 lanes. All buildings are humongous.
As first order of business, Paski takes off on her bike to check out her new school. In a fit of pride she can’t help, she takes the direct route down–straight down the hill–to show off her biking skills, since it’s the one thing she can really do.
And she get immediate notice. From the perfect guy.
The next morning, she gets some more notice. Of the bad kind. And she knows, without being told, that the car full of laughing girls are the girls. Worse, the head girl seems to have a thing with her perfect guy.
In general, she finds her fellow students shocking, and her teachers more so, and the parents the most. They tend to look younger than their children.
Her first party turns into a near death experience, and the drama and craziness doesn’t really slow down from there. This is war, pretty much. And she doesn’t intend to lose.
This is one of the best coming-of-age/finding-self stories I’ve read in awhile. Paski finds out the hard way that ignoring her insticts and truest self can only cause harm, and that things really do happen for a reason, even if that reason is long in showing itself. There really are perfect boys, and girls can be too cruel to comprehend.
But she sticks to her guns, navigates through the minefield, and finds herself in a place she never would have expected to be.
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