A light-hearted utopian fantasy detective story

“They say the crown lies heavy on the head of the king, but in Sataminva our crown lies on a perfectly counterbalanced plate in a display case in the Hall of Voices.”

Khatin Amatar grew up in the free realm of Sataminva after the last king died in a failed war of conquest. Now she works as assistant and bodyguard to the famous detective Farid Rassamouli, helping out where community justice cannot reach. After successfully wrapping up a high-profile case they are sent from the familiar streets of the capital to a small border town where a colleague seems to be the latest in a string of disappearances. As their investigation begins, every answer just raises more questions and the shadows around the town of Redstone grow ever darker.

Before their adventures are over Khatin will need her wits, her convictions, and all the skills she learnt growing up around the family fighting arena.

“Does some interesting and unexpected things with the genre that readers will enjoy.” - Andrew Knighton, author of Ashes Of The Ancestors and The Executioner’s Blade.

"This story is descended in part from my exhaustion with the fantasy trope of solving the problems caused by a bad king by installing a better king. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed clear to me that most of the things that we think of as good, or even utopian, government are not tied to technology. There’s no reason that a fantasy nation couldn’t have effective self-government, no reason that it couldn’t care for its people. And then I wondered what would happen if all the neighbouring countries still believed in the Divine Right of Kings - wouldn’t they see your country as free real estate? At the same time I wanted to tell a fast-moving adventure story, to let the political setting act as a backdrop to something with mystery, a dash of swashbuckling, a touch of magic, a hint of romance, and some good jokes along the way." - Ben Moxon