The Mystical Murders of Yin Mara - Marshall Ryan Maresca

 

The Mystical Murders of Yin-Mara is a novella length piece from Marshall Ryan Maresca, whose Maradaine books I've enthused about here, from time to time. While it's set in the same universe, this book has a different geography and a different cast, though it still has the same crackling energy and heart as its antecedents. It's smart, occasionally funny, and blends highwire tension with an honesty and emotional depth that's always a winning combination. 

Yin-Mara is a city at the edge of the world. At least as far as our protagonists are concerned, anyway. Heading out of the cosmopolitan city of Maradaine, to start  a promising academic partnership, the two find themselves walking into a space that is very different to what they're familiar with. From the cusinine to the law enforcement, they do things differently there. Regular Maradaine readers will see a few nods to familiar institutions - particularly law enforcement - but the customs, the language, the presumptions that underpin culture, those are all different here. But what isn't different is the sense of place. A place where you can get sausage and cabbage rolls and a half decent beer. Where most people are just trying to get by, day to day. That some of them are trying to get by with a bit of backstreet magic, or by investigating the gruseome demise of other residents, well, that's by the by.

Except, of course, that it isn't. Because as we come in, our protagonists find themselves torn between the demands of an academic career in magery (including research, arguments with their supervisor, and kowtowing to the nobility who fund everything) and the less lucrative investigation of the aforesaid brutal murders - victims drained dry of life, husks suggesting that it was rather painful too. Something is stalking the streets of Yin-Mara, striking seemingly at random. Whether or not our protagonists will be able to figure out what it is and what it wants before they attract its attention is another matter.. Maresca builds out a cracking thriller from this fairly simple premise. Anyone or anything could be the killer, and as the list of victims starts to ramp up, the question of whether our heroes are stalking it, or it's stalking them becomes rather pressing. The tension ratchets up masterfully, and it certainly left me turning pages rather later at night than I should have been awake, because I wanted to know what happened next.

The emotional heart of the story are Phadre and Jiarna, our protagonists. Young, smart, determined to get somewhere in the world, they've set out into their great adventure with enthusiasm, and with each other. The genuine affection and emotional closeness on the page is visible throughout the story. A pair in love, determined to do not just the necessary thing, but the right thing. Of course this doesrather tend to land them in trouble. But between the magic of one and the razor-sharp mind and iron determionation of the other, there's no obstacle they can't at least attempt to overcome. In their struggles, their failures and successes, their disagreements, make-ups and quiet moments, they steal every page they're on, and I look forward to seeingmore.

That applies to the whole book, really. Yin-Mara is a place crying out for further exploration, and our protagonists are an entertaining, likable duo you can empathise and sympathise with. The story zips along and never outstays its welcome -- but I would happily read more of it, please. If you're looking for a thoughtful, thrilling murder mystery with a dash of magic, this one's for you.