The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

[lightreads]

The Tainted Cup

4/5. Holmesian fantasy about the assistant investigator dragged along in the wake of his brilliant/eccentric/difficult boss to solve a set of murders that started with a tree bursting out of a man’s chest; also, the leviathans may be about to break the sea wall and kill everybody.

Great, even (especially?) if you ignore the pastiche as hard as I did. I am just so over it. But here you can ignore – there are allusions and archetypes, but there’s plenty of other there there. And what’s left is a really interesting world, vividly drawn characters that I’m hoping the series will expand upon because I have the sense there’s a lot more to say, and some musings on the nature of government and society. Is it another Divine Cities book? No, and I’m still waiting for him to produce something else in that league. But this is still a pleasure, and I will read more.

Content notes: Some body horror, passing references to sexual assault, murder

Comments

[watersword]

This sounds very relevant to my interests, thank you for informing me of its existence!

[cathexys]

Agreed on both counts--it's not Divine Cities, but that makes it an easier read (and maybe an easier rec as a result). And like you I totally ignored the pastiche elements. But everything else was such fun and creative and well written!

[thefourthvine]

Huh! Just finished this one -- really enjoyed it -- and I went into it expecting Holmesian inspiration, but I didn't really see any. To me, it's more of a Nero Wolfe inspired situation. (Although Wolfe is certainly a reaction to Holmes, so there's a lineage there.) But, regardless -- you were right, this is very fun, and I very much look forward to the next. (Cannot believe Bennett managed to write a mystery novel right on his first try. This man continues to surprise me.)

[lightreads]

Yeah, it's there but it's not the whole DNA of the book or anything. And a good thing too. I'm pretty sure marketing just slaps Holmes! on every possible thing as a reflex.