Twisting the Rope
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
The Campbell Award–winning author’s follow-up to Tea with the Black Dragon: “Wow! MacAvoy’s done it again” (Anne McCaffrey, New York Times–bestselling author).
Mayland Long, aka the Black Dragon, has been enjoying a peaceful relationship with Martha Macnamara—but suddenly they face threats from seemingly every side. A wild psychic force is loose in the world; Martha’s three-year-old granddaughter has been kidnapped; and one of her Celtic musician friends has been found dead, hanging by a rope of twisted grass. Now the Black Dragon must use his wits to rescue the little girl and hunt for a killer . . . even if it brings him to a horrifying realization.
In this novel, the author of The Book of Kells returns to the modern-day California of Tea with the Black Dragon, blending fantasy, mystery, Chinese lore, and a timeless love story as she so masterfully did in her debut, which earned nominations for Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and Philip K. Dick Awards. “MacAvoy supports her tale with a superbly drawn cast of characters . . . and her usual superior command of language” (Booklist).
Customer Reviews
A Murder Mystery the Black Dragon Must Solve
This is the second installment in R. A. MacAvoy’s Black Dragon Duology, and it is set about five years from the events of “Tea with the Black Dragon.” Our two main characters, Mayland Long and Martha Macnamara, are touring the country with Martha’s traditional Celtic band when one of the band members is found dead, hanging from a hand twisted grass rope made by two of the other band members. Was it murder? Was it suicide? Our characters need to find the truth before the police make some wrong assumptions.
Although this book is classified as fantasy, there are few fantastic elements to the story. It is mostly a detective story, a murder mystery. However, the wonderful characterizations and descriptive scenes make it fascinating. I stayed up way past my usual bedtime to finish the last half of the book! The band members make an excellent supporting cast of characters, all of whom are interesting and have some depth. Like “Tea” it is a very different and unique story, and that is something that fantasy needs more of. In a way, it isn’t really very dependent on “Tea” as it only shares the main characters from that work.