Thieves' Quarry

May 20, 2013
Boston in 1768 is a city under embargo, with British troops preparing to occupy its streets. Amid the swell of rebellion, thieftaker and conjurer Ethan Kaille (first met in 2012’s Thieftaker) wakes one morning to feel the reverberation of a mighty spell. Soon the authorities are seeking his aid to find out who or what killed the entire complement of a British warship. Under threat from a colonial government frightened by the idea of witches of mass destruction, Ethan has but days to piece together the mystery and deal with his nemesis, rival thieftaker Sephira Pryce, who is armed with her own conjurer and some nasty bully boys. Jackson (a pseudonym for David B. Coe, the Blood of the Southlands trilogy) deftly blends history and fiction in a tangle of alliances (including loyalist Ethan teaming with a Royal Navy surgeon sympathetic to the rebels) amid Ethan’s moral conflicts over the uses of magic and drawing friends into the dangers of questionable work.

June 1, 2013
Boston 1768. Thief taker Ethan Kaille isn't particularly surprised when he's asked to find out why the crew of a British naval vessel docked in Boston Harbor has died all at once. This wouldn't be Kaille's first death investigationThieftaker (2012) involved the murder of a young girlbut he knows it isn't his investigatory skills that led to this latest assignment. It's apparent from the circumstances that the crew's death was caused by a magical spell, and who better to catch a spell caster than another conjurer? Ethan is an interesting series hero: a convicted mutineer, a man who can turn himself invisible, andas we see herea man not afraid to put his life on the line when faced with a conjurer even more powerful than he is. At once a gripping historical mystery and an inventive urban-style fantasy, the book should appeal to a wide spectrum of readers. Jackson, who has a Ph.D in American history, does an excellent job of making us feel like we're in Boston not long before the War of Independence. More Ethan Kaille adventures would be most welcome.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)