The Tainted Cup

Robert Jackson Bennett
Completed 5/26/2025 Reviewed 5/26/2025
4 Stars

I was very surprised by this book.  It’s a murder mystery wrapped in a fantasy world with giant sea creatures which attack the city during the rainy season.  I think this is the first murder mystery I thoroughly enjoyed.  I was able to follow the progression of the investigation, was surprised by the big reveals, and really liked the two main characters.  The world building is great, although the names of the cities, regions, and other characters had me a bit confused at times.  Many times during murder mysteries, regardless of the genre or setting in which it takes place, I get lost in the details.  There was just something about the way this book was written and the premise of the investigators that kept me from getting lost, and kept me completely engrossed.  This book is nominated for a 2025 Hugo Award.

Dinios Kol is an engraver, a person altered to have an eidetic memory through the use of scents to record and play back the information in his mind.  Recently commissioned, he is apprenticed to Ana Dolabra, a disgraced investigator, to find the murderer of an influential military leader.  His death was due to contagion of plague spores that rapidly grow trees out of a person’s body.  It’s a quick but exceedingly painful death and the spores can proliferate rapidly in a humid environment.  Dinios is perplexed by his employer, a goofy woman who needs to be blindfolded to avoid too much visual stimulation from her environs.  So Dinios does the legwork and Ana puts the pieces together.  When ten engineers are found to have died the same way, shortly before a leviathan from the sea attacks the city, the mystery explodes into huge investigations, putting Dinios and Ana’s lives in danger.  

Dinios is a wonderful character. I instantly liked him.  He’s quiet, introverted, and very respectful of Ana, despite her reputation and quirks.  But he has secrets, some that he keeps, and some that he is not even aware of himself.  Din is the narrator as well.  This gives us a lot of insight into him despite his being staid and socially awkward.  I really enjoyed his progression from novice to confident assistant, although he is rather naïve throughout the book.  

Ana, on the other hand, gave me the feeling of an old hippie cat lady.  Wandering around with a blindfold on most of the time, and revealing only as much of her deducing to Din as is needed for him to be successful on his assignments, I could see her whirling around in tie-dye or 80’s southwest dress with a lighted chili pepper necklace and a perm.  While I would say this book is a comedy, she adds a lot of levity to the grave situations she and Din face.  

I was impressed at how much personality the other characters had, as there were many of them.  This is some of the best character development I’ve read from Bennett, even better than his Foundryside from the Founders’ Trilogy.  Most of the characters were multi-dimensional, with ranges of emotions rather than just being a good or bad person.  Even the vile head of the most powerful family in the city had depth in her manipulative ways.  

I’ve read in the blurbs for this book that this has a “Holmes and Watson” feel to it.  Unfortunately, I’ve never read any, so I can’t compare.  However, the relationship between Din and Ana is simply marvelous, with engrossing interactions and fun banter.  I’m thinking I will need to read the next book in the series to see where Bennett can go with them.  Din is also a quietly gay man, or at least bisexual, so I’d like to see how he develops as a person beyond his social awkwardness.  This is definitely a four star book out of five.  Thoroughly enjoyable.