It's rare to read a fantasy novel that's both GOOD and FUN, but Robert Jackson Bennett manages it handily with The Tainted Cup. Clearly inspired by Sherlock Homes, our investigative duo consists of Din, a small-town sad wet bisexual stick of a boy struggling with his dyslexia & trying to send money home, and Ana Dolabra, a mad genius of a woman who does not believe in manners or leaving her house, who has been recently exiled to the outer provinces. They are called in to investigate Din's first murder scene: an engineer with a whole forest of augmented plants bursting out of his chest, found in the country house of one of the wealthiest families in the empire. From there the mystery leads to the heart of the empire itself, a land under constant threat from leviathans breaking through the sea walls and wreaking havoc—but whose magic is also derived from their blood. Genuinely original worldbuilding, a 'Knives Out'-style mystery where the whole can only be deciphered in bits & pieces, and fantastic characters. Two books are out with another coming this summer, but it is intended to be an ongoing series, not a trilogy. For my part, I will happily read two dozen Ana & Din adventures.