What I’m Reading: Missing by Moonlight

One thing I liked about the first book is that it was a cozy mystery, but with a fantasy setting, which was something I hadn’t come across before. I wasn’t sure if that would be the pattern for the whole series though, as the mystery didn’t really get started until about halfway through and was fairly basic. I’m happy to report that the second book is indeed another fantasy-mystery, and without having to spend any time to introduce Ginnevra and Eodan and their relationship, we have the whole book to develop a much more involved mystery that is a real challenge for our protagonists to solve.

We start off some miles outside the town of Uparde, where Ginnevra and Eodan have been visiting Ginnevra’s aunt, Caterrina, a retired paladin. But it’s those three days of the month when there’s a full moon and Eodan must assume his wolf shape and can’t turn human, so they’ve camped out in the woods until the moon starts to wane. During the third night, Eodan gets his arm, er, paw caught in a bear trap. While Ginnevra is figuring out how to release him, a hunter approaches with a bow and arrow, ready to kill the werewolf that he assumes is an evil monster. Unfortunately for him, he’s set a number of bear traps in the area, and he when he steps on one, it snaps and breaks his leg.

Now Ginnevra has to carry the hunter, named Pellarius, back to the camp, even as she’s upset at him for getting Eodan hurt. However, the bear trap only punctured Eodan’s skin, and Ginnevra is able to remove it. The next day, Eodan resumes his human form, and although his arm is wounded, it’s not too serious. He and Ginnevra build a stretcher out of branches and carry Pellarius the many miles to Uparde. On the road, they’re attacked by highway robbers, but Ginnevra and Eodan easily defeat them. She ties them up and marches them to town.

In Uparde, on the way to deliver the highway robbers to the Justiciary (the name for the courthouse), Ginnevra notices that there are many posters for missing people. While she drops off the prisoners, Eodan puts Pellarius up at an inn so the hunter can recover. They meet at Aunt Caterrina’s, where Ginnevra’s plans for a hot bath are spoiled when they discover that Aunt Caterrina is gone. Where could she have gone? They were only in the woods for three days, and Caterrina had not planned to leave. Still, there are no signs of violence, so there’s no reason to worry too much yet.

In the morning, they begin investigating. Ginnevra stops by the local chapel of the Dark Lady to see if she has any messages, only for the staff to inform her that the head of the chapel, the Revered Massina, has also gone missing in the past few days. Now Ginnevra is really consternated, although she wonders if the Revered and Aunt Caterrina perhaps went somewhere together, as they were friends.

Ginnevra retrieves the files on missing people from the Justiciary, where the staff is only too glad to hand over the complicated investigation to a paladin. it seems there are more than forty people who have gone missing over the past several weeks. Ginnevra starts looking through the files, and she and Eodan also go out and interview neighbors and friends who might have seen Aunt Caterrina or the Revered. During the investigation, they keep coming across the name Lady Jiulliana, an apparent mystic who’s recently arrived in town and is giving advice and fortunes to visitors at her home, particularly to those with missing loved ones.

Ginnevra suspects Lady Jiulliana of prophecy or predicting the future, which is against the teachings of the Dark Lady, and thus heresy. She learns from the staff at the chapel that the Revered suspected the same thing, but in several meetings with Lady Jiulliana, was unable to prove anything. Ginnevra and Eodan decide to pay Lady Juilliana a visit.

Lady Jiulliana lives in a mansion in the wealthy part of town. Petitioners wait outside her home and her major domo periodically sticks his head and calls one in. How does the major domo know their names? Allegedly, Lady Jiulliana’s gifts provide her knowledge of all sorts of events. While Ginnevra and Eodan are asking people outside the house for information, the major domo calls Ginnevra’s name.

In the house, Ginnevra and Eodan meet Lady Jiulliana face to face. She proves to be a beautiful young woman, apparently with crippled legs that she keeps hidden under a blanket while she sits and dispenses advice on a four-poster bed in a richly appointed bedroom. She seems to know a lot about Ginnevra’s investigation and that Eodan is a werewolf, and gives Ginnevra advice that basically amounts to a warning that pairing with a werewolf will get her in trouble. Ginnevra and Eodan leave, convinced that Lady Jiulliana is a convincing fraud, but not quite able to figure out how she gets her information. Nor does she seem to have any connection they can detect with the missing people.

Back at Aunt Caterrina’s house, they discover Catterina’s body on her front stoop, beaten to within an inch of her life. Eodan treats her, but she’s in a coma and there’s no telling how long it will take her to wake up. Since it may not be safe at her house, they take her to the inn where the hunter, Pellarius, is still recovering from his broken leg. He agrees to watch Catterina during the day while Ginnevra and Eodan continue their investigation. Nobody should know where they are–so why is Pellarius missing when they return to the inn that evening?

Will Ginnevra and Eodan be able to solve the mystery of the missing people, and especially locate Pellarius or the Revered, who they suspect may be in danger? Will Aunt Catterina recover from her injuries? And what’s the deal with Lady Jiulliana, and does she have anything to do with all this?

I think what really makes this book is the character of Ginnevra. She’s so good-hearted and always tries to do the right thing, yet without being a goody-goody–after all, she is having a passionate romantic relationship with a werewolf. She really suffers in this book when she doesn’t know the right thing to do, with the knowledge that people’s lives may be depending on the speed and thoroughness of her investigation. She’s observant and intelligent and always courteous. She really wins the reader’s sympathy, at least this reader’s.

Also, like the first book, I found this to be fantasy on a more intimate scale than usual. I speculated in my review of the first book that this is the sort of fantasy kingdom that decades ago or in the future might be involved in the sort of epic war that forms the backdrop for most fantasy books. Right now, though, the land is in the long period of peace in between such momentous events, when it’s enough for the kingdom’s security for a few bands of paladins to roam the land fighting monsters, leaving the citizens to lives of quiet prosperity.

The mystery format really gives us a chance of explore Uparde’s nooks and crannies, as Ginnevra and Eodan visit neighborhoods throughout the city and meet with all classes of merchants and citizens during their investigation. We get a closer look at everyday life than is usual in these books, and a real feel for the residents in this quasi-medieval fantasy town. And life seems fun, so long as your loved one isn’t kidnapped. Uparde is full of taverns and musicians and markets. I wouldn’t mind moving to such a place, myself!

Missing by Moonlight deftly continues the character-driven fantasy series full of mystery and romance. Like the first book in the series, it’s highly recommended.