Four Dead Queens by Astrid Sholte

Four Dead Queens is the debut novel of Astrid Sholte, who breathtakingly blended the worlds of fantasy and mystery.

The fantasy kingdom of Quadara is seperated into four quadrants. Each quadrant has a special resource to bring for the benifit of the whole country. Each quadrant also has its own queen, who rule the country together.

Keralie is a thief living in one of the seediest parts of Toria, the quadrant in charge of trade. She workes for her childhood friend, Makiel who runs an illegal auction house and hides a sinister darkness inside. Keralie is also dealing with her own past trauma when she is told to steal a comm case containing recorded memories of all four queens being assassinated. Keralie and the delivery guy accidentally see the memories and start an investigation to find the assassin and bring justice for the queens.

I've never read a book that combines genres this well. The whole story is set in a fantasy world but the main plot revolves around the mystery. Instead of a traditional fantasy quest, it reads very much like a detective story, that just happens to be set in a fantasy land. All four quadrants have really distinct cultures and people that makes all the character interactions authentic and highly entertaining.

I never really know what to expect with new books. Four Dead Queens had so many great plot twists and memorable characters. It was so fun going along with Keralie, gathering clues and finding out everyone's dirty little secrets. I think this was one of the few mysteries that I have read that I did not see the end coming.