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Prisons, poisons, and passions combine in a gorgeously written fantasy noir by the author of the Morris Award-winning A Curse Dark As Gold.
As a pickpocket, Digger expects to spend a night in jail every now and then. But she doesn't expect to find Lord Durrel Decath there as well--or to hear he's soon to be executed for killing his wife. Durrel once saved Digger's life, and when she goes free, she decides to use her skills as a thief, forger, and spy to investigate his case and return the favor. But each new clue only opens up more mysteries. While Durrel's marriage was one of convenience, his behavior has been more impulsive than innocent. His late wife had an illegal business on the wrong side of the civil war raging just outside the city gates. Digger keeps finding forbidden magic in places it has no reason to be. And it doesn't help that she may be falling in love with a murderer . . . "This is a confection of romantic fantasy, light and speedy in the reading and reminiscent in flavor of works by Tamora Pierce or Hilari Bell. . . . A mix of the rambunctious and the refined." -- Horn Book"This mystery/fantasy hybrid is intriguing and complex, and the setting is well-imagined. Digger is a scrappy, cynical, morally deficient, yet honorable, thief. Readers who like independent heroines and/or Philip Pullman's "Sally Lockhart Mystery" series (Knopf) will enjoy this novel." -- School Library Journal Elizabeth C. Bunce's first novel, A Curse Dark As Gold, won the ALA's William C. Morris Award for a YA debut. Elizabeth cuts, sews, and embroiders both cloth and stories at her home near Kansas City, Missouri. Please visit her website at www.elizabethcbunce.com.
From Liar's Moon
As I crossed back through the empty court, something that wasn't moonlight flashed in the corner of my vision. Swearing silently, I spun slowly back around, my eyes pressed closed until the last moment. But I hadn't imagined it. There by an arched doorway, in a streak like the mark left on the floor from heavy furniture, was the faintest glitter of something that should not have been there. I knelt beside it and gingerly dipped my fingers toward the flagstones, tapping just lightly enough that a stream of silvery mist spread out from my touch like the radiating arms of a star, flashing the floor in sparkling light.
There was magic at Bal Marse.
Of course there was. "This is a confection of romantic fantasy, light and speedy in the reading and reminiscent in flavor of works by Tamora Pierce or Hilari Bell. . . . A mix of the rambunctious and the refined." -- Horn Book"This mystery/fantasy hybrid is intriguing and complex, and the setting is well-imagined. Digger is a scrappy, cynical, morally deficient, yet honorable, thief. Readers who like independent heroines and/or Philip Pullman's "Sally Lockhart Mystery" series (Knopf) will enjoy this novel." -- School Library Journal
As a pickpocket, Digger expects to spend a night in jail every now and then. But she doesn't expect to find Lord Durrel Decath there as well--or to hear he's soon to be executed for killing his wife. Durrel once saved Digger's life, and when she goes free, she decides to use her skills as a thief, forger, and spy to investigate his case and return the favor. But each new clue only opens up more mysteries. While Durrel's marriage was one of convenience, his behavior has been more impulsive than innocent. His late wife had an illegal business on the wrong side of the civil war raging just outside the city gates. Digger keeps finding forbidden magic in places it has no reason to be. And it doesn't help that she may be falling in love with a murderer . . . "This is a confection of romantic fantasy, light and speedy in the reading and reminiscent in flavor of works by Tamora Pierce or Hilari Bell. . . . A mix of the rambunctious and the refined." -- Horn Book"This mystery/fantasy hybrid is intriguing and complex, and the setting is well-imagined. Digger is a scrappy, cynical, morally deficient, yet honorable, thief. Readers who like independent heroines and/or Philip Pullman's "Sally Lockhart Mystery" series (Knopf) will enjoy this novel." -- School Library Journal Elizabeth C. Bunce's first novel, A Curse Dark As Gold, won the ALA's William C. Morris Award for a YA debut. Elizabeth cuts, sews, and embroiders both cloth and stories at her home near Kansas City, Missouri. Please visit her website at www.elizabethcbunce.com.
From Liar's Moon
As I crossed back through the empty court, something that wasn't moonlight flashed in the corner of my vision. Swearing silently, I spun slowly back around, my eyes pressed closed until the last moment. But I hadn't imagined it. There by an arched doorway, in a streak like the mark left on the floor from heavy furniture, was the faintest glitter of something that should not have been there. I knelt beside it and gingerly dipped my fingers toward the flagstones, tapping just lightly enough that a stream of silvery mist spread out from my touch like the radiating arms of a star, flashing the floor in sparkling light.
There was magic at Bal Marse.
Of course there was. "This is a confection of romantic fantasy, light and speedy in the reading and reminiscent in flavor of works by Tamora Pierce or Hilari Bell. . . . A mix of the rambunctious and the refined." -- Horn Book"This mystery/fantasy hybrid is intriguing and complex, and the setting is well-imagined. Digger is a scrappy, cynical, morally deficient, yet honorable, thief. Readers who like independent heroines and/or Philip Pullman's "Sally Lockhart Mystery" series (Knopf) will enjoy this novel." -- School Library Journal