REVIEW: A Labyrinth of Honeybees by Heather Fawcett
New rulers meddle with the whims of the old gods in a lush and twisty short story of devotion, intrigue, and murder by the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.
At a remote mountain temple, an inquisitor arrives to question a priestess about a pair of murders. The keeper of the sacred garden, its bees, and its ever-changing hedge maze does have her secrets. But what will protecting them cost her as she uncovers layers of conspiracy on both sides?
Review
Yes, yes I know in my review of “Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter” that I said I was finished reading Heather Fawcett but since I enjoyed Travis Baldree’s entry into this murder mystery short story series I thought, “Eh, an hour. I can do an hour.” Well, surprise surprise. I liked this one with some caveats.
This story is more political than focused on whodunnit and why. Our heroine is actually a priestess of her Goddess though she conceals this from the inquisitor who has come from his king to solve the murder. The King has taken over her land and has expressed the intent to get rid of the worship of her country’s old gods. So yeah, she’s both nervous and pissed at him being there. Still she does her best to comply without being slavish while also continuing a feud with a neighboring priest.
Much time is spent on him trying to get the information he has been sent for but failing and getting pissed about that. She’s amused but also aware that eventually things will come to a head. Well, they do and we learn who was responsible for the two deaths. BUT, by this point, and remember this is roughly an hour long read, I’d basically almost forgotten about the murder. Oh yeah, that.
The denouement is not quite from out-of-the-blue but still felt as if it had been pulled from thin air. It does make sense so there is that. As I was reading this story I couldn’t shake the feeling that it ought to be part of another Fawcett book series but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The resolution felt as if it depends on a lot of worldbuilding that just isn’t here. I think it would be better as a longer novella. B-
~Jayne
AmazonBNKoboBook DepositoryGoogle
I read this after reading the Travis Baldree short story, since it seemed to be part of a group of short stories. But yes, this is in a different universe than the other short stories. I enjoyed it and it made me interested enough in her as an author that I plan to try other works.