Robert Jackson Bennett on A Trade of Blood, Fantasy Mysteries, and Hideo Kojima

About A Trade of Blood, book 3 in the Ana and Din series

Detective Ana Dolabra must prove a condemned man’s innocence and confront a terrifying magical technology in this fantasy-mystery from the bestselling author of The Tainted Cup, winner of the Hugo and World Fantasy awards.

The heir to one of the Empire’s most powerful families sits in jail, accused of murder. His hands are covered in the victim’s blood, and he can neither deny his guilt nor explain his actions.

But if the great detective Ana Dolabra cannot save him from the noose, the farming canton of Sapirdad will explode into war, threatening to plunge the whole Empire into starvation and chaos.

As Ana investigates—her assistant Dinios Kol, as ever, acting as her eyes and ears—she fears her task is even more daunting than it seemed. For this murder is just the latest in a deeper, subtler web of death, woven by a mastermind with an ancient weapon at his disposal.

With their customary skill, Ana and Din pursue their adversary through the canton’s wild ranges, sprawling ranches, and reeking slaughterhouses. Yet even they are not prepared to learn the horrifying secret behind their opponent’s powers.

Ana and Din series

These books are such good detective stories that sometimes I forget they are in a fantasy world with magic and horrors beyond my imagining.

It is difficult to write a satisfying mystery. Yet not only did Robert Jackson Bennett write three mysteries, he wrote them in a fantastic world. Each place that Ana and Din visit feels as vibrant as the first. Perhaps because these are mysteries we get to talk to an expansive cast of characters.

Sometimes, fantasy stories are so focused on how different our world is from the one being created that we don’t get to spend time with ordinary characters. The people who guard the gates. Farmers and Merchants. I get the feeling that authors can see the hero journey as the only important story to be told. It is understandable. But the ordinary people, much like in the real world, are the people that make everything work. Not just the “ordinary” who are destined to save the world.

Hideo Kojima, the game creator, said that the first book, The Tainted Cup, “is a masterpiece that deserves to be read.” So, don’t take my word for it. Who am I after all? Take a masterful storyteller’s opinion.

Robert Jackson Bennett can be found on Instagram @r.jackson.bennett