Set in [a:Aliette de Bodard|2918731|Aliette de Bodard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1598376543p2/2918731.jpg]’s Dominion of the Fallen universe — a Belle-Époque Paris ruined by a magical war with a decaying empire of Vietnamese dragons in the Seine — and coming after the third and final novel, this novella centres my 2 favourite characters: lovingly known as the Murder­birds, a bookish cinnamon-roll dragon prince and a stab-and-slice-first, questions-later Fallen angel.

de Bodard describes this Locus Award finalist as “High Gothic meets C‑drama in a Vietnamese-inspired world” and her own blurb summarises the book best:

Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit. But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters.

Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he’d sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic. It’ll take all of Asmodeus’s skill with knives, and all of Thuan’s diplomacy, to navigate this one — as well as the troubled waters of their own relationship.

A delightful whodunnit court drama, which shows off both the 2 protagonists and the dragon empire, while also giving a little introduction to some of the concepts of ruined Paris above the Seine.

CN: murder, attempted murder, mention of past torture and sexual violence, questions of consent, amoral bureaucracy.