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An Ana and Din Mystery (Shadow of the Leviathan #2)
The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.
In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire's reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.
Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana's moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can't defeat.
Hugo Awards finalists announced
There are a ton of categories, so I won't reproduce everything here. Nominees for the best novel are: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey; Hodderscape) Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor (William Morrow; Gollancz) Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tor UK; Orbit US) The Everlasti...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/22/2026)
...oup discussion. In audiobook format, I finished https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/21379/a-drop-of-corruption A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett, the second in an off-world/fantasy procedural series. Although the author kind of telegraphed the identity of the murderer early on, the path to pro...
-kim.kovacs
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (1/15/2026)
...rribly well written, but fun) and now I'm on to https://www.bookbrowse.com/bb_briefs/detail/index.cfm/ezine_preview_number/21379/a-drop-of-corruption A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett. Bennett's book is the second in a series (after 2024's https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/4772/the-tainted-cup The Tainted Cup...
-kim.kovacs
Am I the only person who does this?
Haha, well, since you asked, @Jill_Mercier , I have time for two from the following list: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood A Drop of Corruption (second book in a sci-fi series by Robert Jackson Bennett I li...
-kim.kovacs
"Bennett's wonderfully clever and compulsively readable sequel to 2024's The Tainted Cup offers another winning blend of fantasy and classic detection... . Bennett skillfully integrates humor and magic into the complex puzzle plot and plays fair with planting clues for the reader." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This Holmes and Watson-like investigative duo are compelling to follow, and the truly epic fantasy world where the series is set, with its falling empire, corrupt politics, and magic pharmacopeia engineered from monster blood, takes the familiarity of mystery and creates a truly fantastic fever-dream of a world and a story." —Library Journal (starred review)
"A grand entertainment, as ever with Bennett's richly imaginative yarns." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about A Drop of Corruption was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Robert Jackson Bennett is the author of the Founders Trilogy and the Divine Cities Trilogy, which were both Hugo Award finalists in the Best Series category. The first book in the Divine Cities Trilogy, City of Stairs, was also a finalist for the World Fantasy and Locus awards, and the second, City of Blades, was a finalist for the World Fantasy, Locus, and British Fantasy awards. His previous novels, which include American Elsewhere and The Company Man, have received the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Philip K. Dick Citation of Excellence. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his family.
If you liked A Drop of Corruption, try these:
by Robert Jackson. Bennett
Published 2024
A Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett
by Anthony Horowitz
Published 2019
Anthony Horowitz has yet again brilliantly reinvented the classic crime novel, this time writing a fictional version of himself as the Watson to a modern-day Holmes.
by Dolores Redondo
Published 2017
Already a #1 international bestseller, this tautly written and gripping psychological thriller forces a police inspector to reluctantly return to her hometown in Basque Country - a place engulfed in mythology and superstition - to solve a series of eerie murders.
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