Book three, but not a series ender, The Mystery of Dunvegan Castle by T.L. Huchu is part of the Edinburgh Nights series, and while I'll forgive this year's Hugo voters for not putting it on the best series ballot, my patience on that front is not endless (and nor will the series be). These books are the chronicles of Ropa Moyo, a highly motivated Zimbabwean-Scottish teenager who is offered entry to a prestigious occult library... as an unpaid intern. This time, Ropa's aspirations and hustle come fully up against the barriers placed in her way, and this series does a great job of showing how institutional racism and classism are perpetuated not just by bigots in the institution, but by people who limit their allyship or try to offer "meritocratic" entry points rather than fighting the corner for marginalised people. It's an interesting shift for Ropa - who, to this point, has been a bit naive about her circumstances and whether she can just push through them - and it makes me even more eager to see what book 4 brings.

Fifteen-year-old ghosttalker Ropa Moyo finds herself at a conference of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers on the Isle of Skye. By day, she performs general tasks, but by night, she holds a prominent position at the high table, thanks to her apprenticeship under Sir Ian Callendar. When a valuable manuscript is stolen, and a conference member is murdered, Ropa is tasked with unraveling the mystery. Racing against time, with the fate of Scottish magic hanging in the balance, Ropa must utilize her street smarts to apprehend the culprit.

This marks the third installment in the Edinburgh Nights series, and it's my favorite thus far. The atmospheric setting of a dilapidated castle on an isolated island adds a vivid dimension to the narrative. Ropa, a captivating character, is exceptionally bright, direct, and proud of her roots. The novel skillfully addresses themes of classism, racism, and colonialism, highlighting Ropa's constant belittlement by magical elitists due to her lack of formal magical education.

The story delves into the lives of beloved secondary characters, offering a broader understanding of the magical world. Set in a future post-Catastrophe era, the narrative allows for subtle digs and pop culture references, showcasing Huchu's wit.

Diversity is richly portrayed, and Ropa's experiences with panic attacks, a plausible consequence of her past struggles, add a layer of relatability. The depiction of tingling limbs had me exclaiming 'me too!', further enhancing Ropa's relatability.

This installment proves to be another stellar addition to the urban fantasy series, and I eagerly anticipate the next chapter. I previously read book one and had to go and purchase book two so I could be all caught up ....

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. If wasn’t the best book I have read but I did enjoy the experience I had whilst reading it, it was well written and easy to follow along!

Thank you NetGalley for an e-arc of this book. I have been loving this series from the first book and I was very curious for this installment. I have not been disappointed.

I love the main character and she has learnt a lot during these books, but she still kept her own spark. I think she is super cool and I like her relationship with her friends and family.

The story takes place in Scotland in this volume and I love how it has been blended in with the magical aspect. It has used some historical aspects as well. Wonderfully done!

The plot is interesting and keeps you wanting to turn the page. I highly recommend this book and this series in general!

Received this one from the Pan MacMillan marketing team via Netgalley,for honest read and review,this review is my own.
I am beginning to really like these Edinburgh Nights books and TLHuchu is so funny and I could not out it down.
Brilliant from the start and had me hooked right away, I actually passed the castle on my holidays;)
Typical whodunit , just like cluedo.Ropa is a brilliant ghosttalker
Cannot wait to see if there are more in the series.

I think this is the best in the series to date. Ropa has always pinged off the page as a poverty-stricken, yet talented youngster who has to graft to support her ailing Gran and young sister. She is a ghosttalker who has schooled herself in improving her magical abilities and caught the attention of Sir Ian Callender, who offers her an internship. The catch is that it’s unpaid. So she has to find other opportunities to keep earning money. When she finds herself attending a major magical conference, held at Dunvegan Castle, Ropa finds herself in the middle of a ratsnest of politicking and intrigue when a terrible incident leaves a dead body and a priceless missing scroll.

However, Sir Ian has managed to throw up a magical barrier, preventing anyone from leaving the island. So Ropa is tasked with finding the scroll and the murderer, before Sir Ian’s energy runs out and he’s unable to keep the barrier going. The sense of oppressiveness is very well portrayed and while Ropa’s first-person narrative has always been chirpy and refreshingly irreverent – the tone of the book darkens as the story progresses.

There’s real anger at the double standard, where the rich and entitled get to make the rules and then break them with impunity. While those overseeing Scottish magic all have certain vested interests they are trying to protect – and the creepy Lord Samarasinghe, representing English magical interests is busy causing further strife – Ropa is desperately trying to track down the criminals. In the process, she discovers a ghostly bagpiper, sharp-toothed fae and some dangerously powerful magicians who are increasingly angry at being trapped.

Huchu’s writing held me enthralled as I found myself unable to put this one down. Not only am I very fond of gutsy Ropa, but I also love Priya, her big-hearted friend, who dashes into adventures alongside Ropa while in a wheelchair. I was also impressed that we also see that Ropa’s previous adventures are taking their toll on our plucky protagonist. It gets to be annoying when we see main characters coping with a series of dangerous and frightening adventures and then bounce back again in the next book, completely unaffected by all the fear and danger they’ve been subjected to. I thought Huchu handled Ropa’s issues really well.

I will just mention that this one finishes on something of a cliffhanger. But that’s okay – after reading such an enjoyable adventure, I’ve already made a note to get hold of the next book. Stories this gripping don’t come along every day. Very highly recommended for fans of entertaining urban fantasy with a wonderful Scottish setting. While I obtained an arc of The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
10/10

I had never heard of this series but I am IN LOVE. The entire world is so well written and I need a book 4 asap!!!

I'm grateful to the publisher for providing me with an advance e-copy of The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle to consider for review.

In this, the third book of the Edinburgh Nights series... Edinburgh doesn't feature! Rather, ghostalker Ropa Moyo and her friends and enemies are attending a magical conference at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye. The duties are irksome, and Ropa's still not actually being paid for her work (she's an intern) but she plots a bit of casual larceny to help support her, her grandmother and her sister.

Before Ropa can carry that out, however, everything goes wrong. Despite the presence of some seriously powerful and significant guests in the magical world - England's Magician Royal makes an appearance, allowing Ropa to explain a lot that was previously hinted at about the position of Scotland and its magicians in relation to a revanchist England - a serious crime is committed (no, not by Ropa) leaving her with limited time to sort things out before her world, and that of her boss, Sir Callander, implodes.

I enjoyed this change of scene for Ropa. While she has allies at Dunvegan - especially Priya - she's away from her home turf and has fewer resources to draw on, especially as she is, more than ever, under the eye of the snobbish, entitled masters of Scottish magic. That means she has to be even more ingenious than usual - as we know, Ropa is a formidable person and no respecter of the puffed up and self-important. She doesn't care what feathers she ruffles, and it's magnificent to see her cut a swathe through her lords and masters and right a few wrongs as she does.

The mystery here is also intriguing and apt to be solved through a close understanding of Scottish magical society, the sort of understanding that Ropa has had to develop to ensure her own survival. So her commentary on events and persons has a sort of subtext, paving the way for an eventual solution.

Behind that, though, I had a sense that things are getting more serious in Huchu's magical world. There is a big postcolonial theme in this story, with a stolen artefact from abroad at the centre of things and unhealed wounds from the past a main issue. That arises in a number of ways: the treatment of non-Western societies, but also the basis and roots of Scottish magic. We now learn this is grounded in the dispossession and even imprisonment of the Fae of Skye, those who came before, making the whole enterprise essentially a colonial one. There seems to be a historic injustice there which Ropa won't tolerate for long, but what can she do about it?

The bargain that Ropa has made with the principalities and powers of Edinburgh magic is already strained - their fault not hers, she's only trying to do her job and investigate what's gone wrong - but that cuts little ice. It was always an unstable situation and now seems to be coming apart with loyalties tested and Ropa's future in doubt. If that wasn't enough, alongside the plentiful action there's a bubbling drama that will surely eventually come to the foreground of these books concerning Ropa's history, her future and the survival of magical society.

Huchu is definitely shaking things up - this series shows no sign of bedding down and becoming formulaic, and I'm on tenterhooks for what will come next.

In long running series the biggest danger is repetition. What no one wants is for their story to become predictable. If the same beats fall every novel the reader may find it cosy, but it can sometimes become dull. To stop this good series often can deliver a story that redirects the character or even may finally bring certain long simmering plot elements to the fore. I’ve really enjoyed TL Huchu’s awesome Edinburgh Nights series that tells us of a young ghost talker now potential sorcerer working in a near future post-apocalyptic Edinburgh and now with The Mystery At Dunvegan Castle this instalment of the series manages to deliver both and an intriguing locked haunted castle mystery to boot.

To briefly recap in the near future Scotland tied to go independent and a war was raged which England won and now Scotland is believed to know its place under their not so benign rule. Food and medicine are scarce but magic and ghosts are real. Ropa Moyo was a former burglar, constant ghost talker and now working for Sir Ian Callandar one of Scottish Magic’s most important people as an unpaid investigator but where the lull of learning spells and potential power is a mighty incentive. Sir Ian has asked Ropa to attend a meeting at Dunvegan Castle where the Four School of Scottish magic, the high and mighty and many other important people meet for an annual conference. At this also arrives honoured guests from Ethiopia that bear a priceless gift for loan. But the room is plunged into darkness, a murder and theft is committed. Now Ropa is charged with getting to find the culprits but she soon finds everyone has a motive.

There is a brilliant slang term Ropa uses at one point in this novel ‘Politricks’ that covers political trickery and this story for me is very much exploring the intrigue of the world that Huchu has created now over three books. This story explores the wider chess board that Ropa is finding herself a player (or piece) on and it is also a story not afraid to do something different. Ropa is not on her home turf of Edinburgh the real and very famous Isle of Skye and Dunvegan Castle which has an interesting real and in this novel magical history involving the fae too. Ropa is also without either the support of her grandmother and sister both far away and thanks to the theft now uncontactable. Even her powerful mentor Sir Ian is absent using his considerable magical power to keep the Castle under a barrier 24/7 until the culprit is caught - he even cannot sleep. This means Ropa is pretty much apart from a couple of friends helping cover ground, is now acting on their own.

Ropa our lead character and narrator is as always a delight A teenage prodigy, geek just as able to discuss history via their ever constant love of podcasts and knowledge as to be on the lookout for things to steal. Huchu brings Ropa to life through their language that balances slang, pop science and geekery to make a unique and for me hugely enjoyable voice to propel us through the story. But Ropa a young Black woman coming from the poorer side of town has from the off been seen by many in Sir Ian’s circle as an interloper. She hasn’t the family connections or wealth most in Scottish magical Society have (no convenient secret family bank account here) and so this time as she has to investigate the high and mighty, we get to see how Ropa is seen by her peers. This story doesn’t make Ropa the Chosen One with a sudden gift for commanding people; or show Ropa just accepted into the forces of authority no this story very much puts these two on warring sides and Ropa is very much alone. Huchu mentions throughout Machiavelli (whom Ropa is currently studying) and the depressing thing that becomes apparent is how petty and small town cruel these people are and ever looking for a chance to show Ropa who is charge and make her pay for her attitude. For me compared to many contemporary fantasies this is the first time I’ve felt the actual response here feels the most likely when those in power get threatened by a talented yet unconnected reengage and we feel this time Ropa may be too exposed.

The other big element explored and moves into a different gear is the ‘cold war’ between England and Scotland. The books have hinted a further conflict is on the cards and this story explores why Scotland is viewed as a weak opponent by the King and his government (unsurprisingly all the small-minded power politics) There are hints of charges suggested in the book. A mysterious Black Lord who is potentially after a powerful artefact. The splendidly enigmatic and often scary Lord Samarasinghe is introduced the Sorcerer Royal who arrives unannounced and very much enjoys pricking the many egos of everyone and proves a compelling match for Ropa to trade wits with and again he feels a far stronger potential threat than any previously encountered. We also get non-UK powers introduced with a fabulous duo of Ethiopian magicians who we find are easily two of the most powerful met so far in the series and very unhappy at how their priceless treasures have been lost. Huchu creates a spellbinding alternate history for Ethiopia being one of the cornerstones of magic also sets up an interesting debate on which is more power Scottish magic with its roots in science and the Enlightenment or the traditional religious focused magic now seen. This raises all sorts of debates on appropriation and how other cultures get removed from the narrative of history. My overall sense is all these plots are now brought to the boil for future instalments to now run free with. I cannot wait to see how this all develops.

Finally, we have a very good mystery to solve too. There are lots of suspects; adding in magic makes theft harder to solve and it gives Ropa a few chances to shine. I loved a particular confrontation where she realises that she too has some authority and does use it to hep an innocent suspect escape prison. We can feel the growth from who we met in our first book. We also see a simmering romance between Ropa and her friend Priya start to edge into actually telling each other how they’re feeling about each other and all of this then makes the danger of what happens if Ropa fails here rather clear. There is also the most beautiful magical duel towards the end which reveals exactly how powerful these magicians can be when they’re not debating formulas and trying to gain a seat at the high tables. The pace of the whole story is really fast, full of history, legends and revelations and we cover a lot of ground in the few days Ropa has to solve things. Sides are having to be chosen and which one will Ropa choose is a key part of this story

The Mystery At Dunvegan Castle for me opens up the Edinburgh Nights series to a wider magical world and it could now go in many directions. The chessboard has been hit and the pieces scattered. New players are also showing their hands and I am very keen to know what happens next. One fo the most interesting UK fantasy series out there. If you’ve not yet joined Ropa’s adventures what is keeping you. If you’ve enjoyed them so far then a treat lies in store. Highly recommended!

Great third instalment of this fabulous series. Loved the Isle of Skye setting and the mystery. I did miss a bit of the ghostly elements typical for the previous two books though.

This is one the best urban fantasy series in these years and I loved it since I read the first book.
There's a lot of comparison with other famous series but this a very original and entertaining one and the world building is intriguing and well done.
We move from Ediburgh to Skye in this novel and I loved how the characters were able to adapt to a very different environment and how the well plotted story found a great setting in this place.
There's humour, action and an excellent story that I thoroughly enjoyed
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I adored both of the first two books in the Edinburgh Nights series so naturally, I was excited to read The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle. I loved that this book had more of a locked room type of setting (since the characters were all trapped on the Castle grounds) than its predecessors as it gave it its own flavour. Ropa and her friends continue to be the most kickass group of fantastical mystery solvers I've ever read. The mystery in itself was great and I didn't see the twists coming until they were about to be revealed. I love this series and cannot wait for book 4!

Ropa is back! But this time she is not chatting with the dead of edinburgh but instead she has found herself at a magical conference on the Isle of Skye. I adore this change in scenery. Up off the north-west coast the scenery of Skye is so much different from Edinburgh with its own myths, legends, ghost stories and even links to the world of the fae and Huchu gives us a little taste of it all in this book.

The plot is a subtly crafted locked room mystery. The academic conference bringing together magic pracitioners, students, magical lawyers, makers of magical objects all in one place and due to a marder and a theft they are all trapped under one roof, till ropa can find the culprit. This makes for so many interesting little tid bits of infromation about not only magical scotland but the world as a whole. We learn about Scottish magic and the in-fights between the four schools, clan wars of the highlands and the differece in lowlanders magic. A deligation from ethiopia gives us insight into religious based magical practice and the unexpected arrival of a prominant English practitioner stirs up trouble. All of the detail is so much fun. However, we are still only teased about what the cataclism is/was. We get some more subtle details, how it affected the islands and its people, the country side, politics etc., but we still have no clear sign at to what actually happened.

I feel like Ropa herself, just wanting to devour all the new information we are given. Then on top of all the magical politics, we have all the ghost stories, old curses, rumours of a mysterious fifth school, the fae, fun and games in the form of magical 'rugby' and full on magical battles. It never seems to stop and I love it.

Even though the cast of characters is huge I felt we got to know a lot more about characters from previous books, especially Ropa's mentor/boss Sir Callander, we got to see all the sides of him in this. His trust of Ropa, his power and prowess in magic, even some of his home life. It really made me begin to like him as a character, dropping a bit of the stern facade he had in the other books. There is still the usual gang though, Pria is as always one of my favourite characters and she is just as sassy and kick ass as she was in he prvious books.

I am left with so many exciting questions that I hope are going to be answered in book 4. But the one that keeps coming back to me other than all those pretaining to the cataclism is what on earth are the rules to "rugby"

I first came to TL Huchu’s writing through Ben Aaronovitch doing a live stream over lockdown ahead of the release of the first book in the The Edinburgh Nights series, the Library of the Dead. As a big fan of Ben, it felt like a good fit for me especially as it was set in a city that I used to live in and I know well. I really enjoyed it, but I did feel that it didn’t quite hit the height for me that I felt the Rivers of London series had, but then again that is one of my favourite series. I enjoyed it enough to buy the second one when it came out and that one clicked more with me. This means when I heard the third one was due out, I got quite interested, and quite excited. When it arrived this week I went straight into it and I have to say it’s my favourite one of the set so far. Over the past few books I have come to know the characters and enjoy them, and I think seeing how they interacted with each other outwith Edinburgh added a dimension that I really enjoyed.

Ropa Moyo is no stranger to magic or mysteries. But she’s still stuck in an irksomely unpaid internship. So she’s thrilled to attend a magical convention at Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye, where she’ll rub elbows with eminent magicians.

For Ropa, it’s the perfect opportunity to finally prove her worth. Then a librarian is murdered and a precious scroll stolen. Suddenly, every magician is a suspect, and Ropa and her allies investigate. Trapped in a castle, with suspicions mounting, Ropa must contend with corruption, skulduggery and power plays. Time to ask for a raise?

I really enjoyed watching had a relationship between Sir Ian Callander and Ropa had grown over the last while, and how against the background of quite a lot of prejudice she seems to have found her place and her tribe. It felt like this book went more into the background and history surrounding some of the people and things that we had heard about in previous books and I loved the world building.

If you have read the previous books, there is going to be much for you to enjoy in this. Ropa has such a strong voice and the whole book is told from her inner monologue and perspective and over the course of the three books I really have come to like the character, whereas I think at the end of the first book, I was a little unsure as to how much I liked her, now I really enjoy what the writer has done with the character and she’s really grown on me.

One of the things that was quite interesting in this book is that she is taken away from her normal support group of her sister and her grandmother, and even her pet fox, and she is now reliant on herself, her mentor, Sir Ian Callander, and of course her friends.

For those who don’t know this is set in the near future after some unnamed catastrophe which has obviously changed the course of Scotland and the UK, and we assume the World. Ropa is a Ghost Walker, a type of magic that is often looked down on by much of the mainstream magic practitioners. However, over the course of a few last few books, we’ve come to realise that she comes from a long line of powerful and respected magicians. Her grandmother is well known and respected by many of the top magicians but she seems to have turned her back on that world and now she lives in a caravan on the outskirts of Edinburgh without a lot of money.

Ropa has a brilliant personality and is sassy and is not beyond using some really fun pop culture references that very much tickled my fancy. Some of the references in this book also crossed over with one of my other favourite fandoms in that she specifically mentions and quotes several times from the movie, Highlander, this does make sense as she is working with several members of the clan McCleod. There is so much to enjoy in this book from almost a murder mystery vibe to the fantastic, including a magical duel, and the fae and all sorts of really interesting things just add a bit of layer to the mythology.

As always, I do try to keep spoilers to the absolute minimum but I will say it does end on a kind of cliffhanger!

Conclusion

This is the third Book in the series, but I think that TL Huchu might be coming towards the end of the series – though I hope we might get further series with the same character – it feels like this is the beginning of the end game. The extra layering on the characters that we’ve come to know worked really well for me and the setting is a place I have visited and again I really like that. This is a great fun, often funny, action, magic mystery adventure and that’s a lot of different genres all together and it makes it all work. I think the series is going from strength to strength. I think of you enjoy things like Rivers of London or if you enjoy Daniel O’Malley’s Chequey books, then I think there is a lot here that you would like. I think the very strange take on rugby is worth the price of admission alone!

If you haven’t read the previous ones then maybe isn’t the best place to start, but if this interests you at all and I think it should, go to the library or the bookshop and start at the beginning because it’s quite possible like me you’ll really come to love the characters and you will be very invested in what’s going to happen next! I think this has now hit the highs of Rivers of London for me, a rare accolade indeed!

“Boom. Lassie from the slums winds up in a castle. Ain’t that a right old fairy tale? If I didn’t know any better, I’d have done up my dreadlocks, worn a tiara and called myself princess.”

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Tor for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle’ by T. L. Huchu.

This is Book 3 in his Edinburgh Nights urban fantasy series set in a post-apocalyptic near future Edinburgh.

Teenage ghostalker, Ropafadzo (Ropa) Moyo, is currently working as an unpaid intern for the Society of Sceptical Enquirers. The Society is organising its bicentennial magical convention at Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye.

Ropa has been assigned to the Hamster Squad, basically serving as gophers for the event. While there she will have an opportunity to rub elbows with the great and the good of Scottish magic.

Then the conference proceedings take a sinister turn when a librarian is murdered and a precious scroll stolen. It’s a locked room mystery and every magician in attendance is a suspect. It falls to Ropa and her allies to investigate. There’s plenty of dangers, power plays and skullduggery going on to make the situation very exciting. No further details to avoid spoilers.

Before embarking on the main story T. L. Huchu provides a list of Principle Magical Institutions, Places, and Characters. I always appreciate it when authors include this kind of reference information.

While background is provided, I would suggest that it is best to read the series in order, ‘The Library of the Dead’ (2021) and ‘Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments’ (2022), to appreciate its characters’ development and the ongoing storylines.

I adore Ropa, who serves as the novel’s narrator and presents her unique take on her world, tongue firmly in cheek. I also have appreciated how well Huchu blends Zimbabwean magical traditions with the European ones. There is also an international dimension to the conference that allows for an examination of the magical legacy of colonialism.

The conclusion of ‘The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle’ sets events in motion for the yet untitled
fourth novel. I certainly am looking forward to reading it in due course.

Overall, I found ‘The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle’ an intelligent and witty urban fantasy with excellent world building and characterisation. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this novel and the series as a whole.

Fifteen year old ghosttalker Ropa Moyo is attending a conference of the Society of Sceptical Enquirers on the Isle of Skye. During the day she’s a general dogsbody but at night she has a seat at the high table, thanks to her being the apprentice of Sir Ian Callendar. When a precious manuscript is stolen and a member of the conference murdered, Ropa is called upon to solve the case. With time slipping away and the future of Scottish magic in the balance, Ropa has to use all her street smarts in order to catch the culprit.

This is the third in the Edinburgh Nights series and this was my favourite so far. The setting of the run down castle on an isolated island was so evocative and added to the atmosphere brilliantly. Ropa is such a wonderful character, incredibly bright but also direct and proud of her roots. The themes of classism, racism and colonialism are highlighted so well, with Ropa constantly being belittled by the snobs of the magical world just because of her lack of a formal magical education.

We get to see more of the secondary characters we know and love and also get to understand more of the wider magical world. It’s a world set in the future, post Catastrophe (an event alluded to but never fully explained) and I absolutely love the sly digs and pop culture references this allows Huchu to make.

There is diversity aplenty and I admire the fact that Ropa is shown to experience panic attacks, an entirely likely consequence of all she has previously endured. The description of tingles in the limbs had me exclaiming ‘me too!’ and made her entirely more relatable to me.

Another cracking instalment in this urban fantasy series and I can’t wait for the next.

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle is the third book in T L Huchu’s Edinburgh Nights series, featuring teenage ghost talker Ropa Moyo. This time the gang are at a magic conference in a castle on the Isle of Skye and Ropa has to retrieve a precious artefact which has been stolen in mysterious circumstances.

I do quite like the character of Ropa, but all the adults around her are very annoying. They are incredibly rude and pompous towards her, yet seem to expect the untrained teenage unpaid intern to be carrying out high-stakes investigations without any assistance. And was it absolutely necessary to have a complicated multi-ball magical sports game plonked in the middle of the plot?

I’m probably not the target audience for this series, I suspect it’s aimed more at young adults who’ve graduated from Harry Potter.

Mystery at Dunvegan Castle is the third book in the Edinburgh Nights series. I enjoyed reading about Ropa the main character, she is a tough and tenacious girl who uses her street smarts to solve paranormal crimes. Ropa, Jomo, Priya, etc. are holed up at Dunvegan Castle, a dilapidated family seat of the MacLeods on the island of Skye. Invited to an annual magical conference with delegates from all over Scotland and guests from the proud and powerful magical nation of Ethiopia. As usual, Ropa has to deal with the snobbishness of the establishment, the elite magical schools, with all its backstabbing, feuds and manipulation. The situation takes a turn and becomes more complicated when the Sorcerer Royal pays an unexpected visit, a valuable loan goes awry and a librarian is murdered.

The plot is more focused than in the first two books. This gives the story a more streamlined and cohesive narrative, a definite shift from the paranormal elements of the first two books. Worldbuilding is expanded from the first two books. The mystery aspect was well done and kept me hooked. The magical duel towards the end was action-packed and unputdownable. The themes covered are; socioeconomic, class status, power, money, and magic.

This was another excellent book in the Edinburgh Nights series and there is a shift coming in the next book. My thanks to both Netgalley and the publisher Macmillan for an e-arc and an honest opinion.

“Words have great power. Through them we create reality.”

T.L. Huchu’s new book in the Edinburgh Nights series continues Ropa Moyo’s adventures which lead her to attend a magical convention at Dunvegan Castle, on the Isle of Skye. Here she will get the chance to rub shoulders with the biggest players around giving her the chance to prove herself to them. However when a librarian is murdered and a treasured scroll goes missing, every magician in attendance is a suspect. It is up to Ropa to investigate and unravel the corruption and powers at play at this castle.

I very much enjoyed the first two novels in this series so I was excited to pick up this third instalment. As ever it is great to be reunited with familiar characters and to see them develop further.

The story is fast paced, full of mystery and intrigue from the very start. The reader is quick to become engrossed in what is happening and who is responsible.

Ropa is one of many favourite characters of mine, I loved figuring out her way of thinking and what drove her to prove herself in this story. There are many moments where comedy and despair which are portrayed in a way that elevates the story.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this mystery and it was good to revisit this intriguing world of Magic set in Scotland.

Very disappointed in this book.

I love Ropa and her adventures, with the first book being my favourite, but this one had the strangest tone that didn't even match the main character. It felt really odd and I wasn't entertained. I did like the element of a mystery in an enclosed space, but it quickly fell short in both the writing style and the repetitive jokes that weren't that funny. I wanted more from the side characters, but it all felt a bit wishy washy.

Sadly, I won't be continuing the series.