2000; 282 pages. Book #4 (out
of 8) in the Lieutenant Bak
series. New Author? : Yes. Genre : Murder-Mystery; Historical Fiction. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
The
people of Buhen are upset with their Queen.
Their city stands near the southern border of the Egyptian empire (in
what is now northern Sudan), with an army garrison stationed with them to keep
the desert bandits and southern barbarians at bay. Now a delegation is about to arrive to
inspect the forts of the region, and it is rumored that it will recommend the
army be withdrawn from this far flung outpost.
The
locals, and the army, meet the delegation with sullen stoniness, but their
seething frustration is not lost upon the visiting bigwigs. But a job’s a job, and the evaluation gets
underway.
Things
turn bad when a desert bandit leader returns to the area to foment
rebellion. They get even worse when one
of the local tribal princes is murdered in the house where the delegation is
staying. He was a popular noble, and if
Lieutenant Bak doesn’t catch the culprit soon, the Egyptians can expect no
cooperation from the inhabitants around Buhen.
That would threaten the Empire. And
the Empire does not like to be threatened.
What’s To Like...
A Curse of Silence is about equal parts Historical
Fiction and Murder-Mystery. It is set
during the reign of the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, which timewise is
about the 14th Century BC. The setting –
The fortress at Buhen, in the area called Medjay, in the region nicknamed the
Belly of Stones – is historically accurate.
You can read about any and all of these in Wikipedia.
There’s
a cast of characters (and deities) at the beginning of the book,
and Kindle readers might want to bookmark it for quick reference. There are a lot of characters to meet, and
they all seem to have no discernible motive for killing the prince. In truth, you won’t be able to figure out who
did it until the key piece of evidence is uncovered, so relax and enjoy the
company of Bak as he hits dead-end after dead-end and tries to avert a military
disaster by solving the slaying before the hordes of desert bandits attack the outnumbered
garrison.
I
found the book to be an excellent piece of Historical Fiction. There are a couple of info-dumps at the beginning
(what they eat, what the lay of the land looks like), but after that the
narrative flowed smoothly and the setting felt very "real".
The book is also an excellent Murder-Mystery. I especially liked that the “color” of the
characters evolves as the story goes along.
Lieutenant Bak has to change his opinion of several of the visitors as
time goes by, and mostly for the better.
The ending is deftly handled, with the issues of both the desert bandit
and the murderer neatly taken care of. There
is some bloodshed, a house of ill-repute, and at least an allusion to child
sexploitation. But the gore is minimal
and nothing lewd occurs onstage. This is
a standalone novel, which I appreciate since I haven’t read the earlier books
in the series.
Excerpts...
“First it was the
men along the river, and now this!” Amonked expelled a long, irritated
sigh. “I can understand her anxiety – I also
am concerned – but will she never learn to suffer in silence?”
You don’t know
how fortunate you are, Bak thought, that Thaneny so often stands between you,
taking the brunt of her wrath.
“She’ll not be
content until we return to Kemet, that she’s made clear, but I suppose I must
make an effort to soothe her.” Amonked looked
at the concubine for a long time, as if he dreaded going to her. “Do you share your life with a woman,
Lieutenant?”
“No, sir.”
“You’re a most
fortunate man.” (loc.
2903)
“Do you have any
idea who the slayer might be?” he asked Bak.
“None.” Another truth hard to take, one Bak could not
gloss over.
Amonked’s tone
sharpened. “Then the wretched creature
could as easily be in Buhen as here.”
“Every instinct
tells me you brought him with you from Waset and he’s traveling with us now.”
“I’d feel better,
Lieutenant, if you spoke of reason, not instinct.” (loc. 3290)
Kindle Details...
A
Curse of Silence sells for $0.99 at Amazon, which is a terrific
price. All the other books in the series
also go for $0.99, with the exception of A
Place of Darkness, which for some reason sells for $5.69.
“Not everyone is blessed with common sense, Pawah, and those who
aren’t seldom listen to those who are.” (loc. 2884)
The worst I can say about A Curse of Silence is that the ultimate fate
of the murderer is left dangling. It
could be that the character will pop up again somewhere further along in the
series. It also could be that spelling out the final judgment allotted to the crime-doer would have drawn out what was an otherwise
superbly-paced ending. But I pick at
nits.
I
read a fair amount of Murder-Mysteries, and it is always a treat to stumble
across a new author who knows how to write one, and who brings some refreshing
new plotlines to the genre. When a
fascinating historical setting is also included, well, that’s just icing on the
cake.
My
local digital library carries about half of the books in this series, and at
$0.99 for (most of) the rest, I can easily see me reading a bunch more of Lieutenant
Bak’s adventures.
9 Stars. Highly recommended.
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