In The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, Dinios Kol is an assistant investigator for the Empire, working with Ana Dolabra, a well-respected but eccentric investigator. They’re called to look into the death of an imperial official, who was killed when a magical contagion of some kind caused a tree to sprout from his chest. Ana and Din are perplexed, though Ana is also fascinated. The more the two of them learn about the dead man, the more obvious it is that this was murder—and that he was killed as a result of a conspiracy within the Empire. But more pressingly, this is all happening just as the wet season begins, and the leviathans from the deep grow restless and begin attempting to breach the sea walls. With time running short, Din and Ana must solve the case before the seaside town has to face an even worse threat.

All I knew about this going into it was that it was a Holmes-Watson duo investigating a magical murder. Honestly, all of those buzz words are my kryptonite at this point.

And this was quite good! I was immediately endeared to Ana, who’s extremely snarky and brash but in an amusing way to me. She’s got a filthy mouth, even at inappropriate times when she’s addressing those of higher rank, which I found to be quite entertaining. Her quirks are not unlike Sherlock Holmes, in terms of her disregard for social expectations and her keen ability to deduce truths from very bare evidence, so naturally, she was my favorite character. I’m nothing if not predictable. I do wish we could have learned more about her, where she came from and why she is the way she is, but I suppose we’ll get more of that in the upcoming sequel.

As for Din, I also liked him. He’s a Watson-esque figure who actually has strong abilities of his own, able to hold his own with Ana, even though they have very different skill sets. I like that Ana clearly recognizes and values what Din can do that she can’t, which makes them a good team. Too often, a Watson simply serves to follow their Holmes around as a sort of awestruck narrator, but Din has his own personality, development, and backstory that flesh him out even better than his quirky detective companion. I also appreciated that Bennett explored what it might be like for someone with dyslexia and related learning difficulties to have to navigate the world; I’ve never seen it portrayed quite like this before, describing Din’s struggles to read and write with detail but also empathy. He’s not looked down on for this by Ana or by the narrative, though he grapples with a lot of internal shame. I just like how it’s handled, basically.

On a slightly different note, the magic system in this is so clever and intriguing. People have different sorts of magical modifications done to them, which manifest both in physical alterations and mental ones. Some become skilled fighters, some have heightened senses, and some—like Din—have photographic memory. So superhero stuff, basically, but I love that Din’s memory recall is grounded in his use of different scents. He’ll smell a specific vial when investigating a crime, “engraving” it into his mind, and then smell the scent again later, enabling him to recall the scene perfectly. It’s really cool, and I’d love to learn more about what these magical modifications can do in the second book (because yes, despite my constant struggle not to, I’ve apparently committed to yet another new series. It’s fine).

Speaking of learning more, I desperately want more information about the leviathans. They serve as ominous looming threats from the sea depths throughout this book, contributing to a constant sense of tension, and I want more! With the backdrop of this world being a powerful Empire and how the rich citizens get away with a lot of bad behavior, I’m sure there’s much more to the leviathans than we know so far. I’ve gotten a strong sense of there being a lot more going on in the underbelly of the Empire than we know, and I want to see more, because at the moment, Ana is pretty pro-Empire, and I’d love to see that challenged.

In the end, though, The Tainted Cup is an impressive first entry in a series. The settings are cool, the magic is awesome, and the mystery plot that weaves through opulent manors and backalley deals is interesting. I love the rapport between Ana and Din, somewhere between master-servant and snarky friends. The character development is good, though I’d have loved more backstory for Ana and more depth to Din’s minor romance with Strovi, a young man in a similar position of duty. But overall, I’m eager to see where this series goes!

The Tainted Cup is available now!