It was a little confusing on my end if i’m honest but at the end i ended up liking it. i’m glad i got the opportunity to read it !!

Real Rating: 4.5* of five

Canadian SFF monadnock Dorsey is operating in a new field so y'all sit up and hit the one-click. As one would expect from the author of Black Wine, sex and its coevals gender and sexuality get a workout here. Reading the third of what I devoutly hope will be an ongoing series first, I thought permaybehaps I'd be a bit lost, without the deeper background that makes series mysteries such good reads for me.

I forgot whose work I was reading.

Feeling lost and a little at sea is Author Dorsey's calling card. That said, I was never wondering where someone came from, or how anyone fits into the schema of the story being told. It probably helps that the way events unfold is as stochastic as real life is itself...it felt to me as though I was genuinely following our nameless detective around, learning things alongside them. In any truly immersive read I hope that I will be investing in the characters along with the main character, and that was indeed the case here. What might not work quite so well was the book's use of **COPIOUS** footnotes...over two hundred!...and huge numbers of acronyms. It took me some time to find a reading rhythm in this story, but I was so ready to trust the author, from past acquaintance in her SFF days, that I kept my hopes up. I felt rewarded. Again, as one would expect from Author Dorsey, there are little SFnal grace notes relatively unobtrusively scattered about.

As in all series reads, though, it's the characters that make the reader invest or decline to invest in the story at hand. Our nameless protagonist, sharp-eyed and -tongued, is a big draw for me. The other characters are literally kaleidoscopic, forming startling and unusual conjunctions with the narrator, each other, and the story unfolding. This is, to me, a net positive because as unusual as the juxtapositions can be, they're never gratuitous or exploitively deployed. I do sometimes feel as though some authors have, in their heads or on their editors' checklists, a set of identities that they feel the need to dot around to be "inclusive." This is absolutely never the way this read came across to me. In part that's because I've read the author's earlier work; in part it's down to the way the characters are included in the sleuth's life and thus this narrative.

I'd be remiss if I failed to mention the evident pro-environment, anti-capitalist thrust of the story. That won't work for some readers, because it's intrinsic to every element of the series' world-building. You know who you are, so you should seek elsewhere for your own ma'at needs to be met.

For me, it went down like a truly excellent, complex, single-malt whisky. I heartily recommend the read.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

there are so many footnotes to go with the actual storyline i lost the plot though i did enjoy the storyline i have to admit the footnotes were very off putting

This is one of the more interesting books i’ve read in a while, some of it was harder to get through but that’s my own fault for not reading the other two in the series.

The way the main character is nameless but still easy to follow and navigate throughout the book, and the group of characters are all quite enjoyable to read

the use of footnotes took some getting used to but once i did i really enjoyed the extra dimension they gave the plot!

An unnamed, snarky amateur detective is deep in the thick of a murder investigation where the narrator might be the best suspect, Oh and there are bad actors going after the unhoused. I read the first book in this series and missed the second, which I think would have helped me sort out some of the scenario in this one. The narrator remains snarky and quick with quips; as with the first book, I found this distracting, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. While this wasn't for me, I liked the diversity and the pop culture references.

I am really enjoying this series and was thrilled to be given an advance copy. The main, unnamed character, is delightfully snarky. I hope more books are coming!

A quick note for readers: the first two titles can be read out of order, but this one would benefit from following book two, as it is, in many ways, a continuation of that story.

Thank you again to ECW Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

The damage caused by Lockwood Chiles is ongoing -- he is murdered in prison and our unnamed amateur detective narrator is the prime suspect for arranging the murder; his "smart paper" is causing multiple headaches; and Nathan's "siblings" have appeared to contest the will. If that is not enough, a gang of thugs have been attacking (and sometimes killing) homeless individuals, and their latest target will be some of the homeless who camp out behind the Epitome Apartments -- a problem that will bother our narrator on multiple levels. Also, a closely guarded secret will show up, and they will be one of the best additions to the story.

I don't recall Mr. Spak, the narrator's lawyer, from the previous books, although I am sure he made an appearance. However, he plays a prominent role in this book, and is a very enjoyable and entertaining character. I also enjoyed the numerous asides/footnotes, in which the narrator explains things, makes cultural references, adds commentary to events, tosses out random facts, or provides other interesting or amusing information. This is one of the best aspects of these books.