I Killed the King

Gr 8 Up–Clue meets Six of Crows in this locked-room murder mystery. The king is dying. His last act is to try and seal the treaty between Avendell and Istellia by marrying his son to the enemy princess. Moments before vows can be said, the lights go out, the king is murdered, and everyone in the room is a suspect. The heir, his reluctant fiancé, the beast tamer, the kingsguard, the mercenary, and the palace’s new healer were all summoned there by the king, and they all have reasons to want the king dead or the peace broken. Short chapters and shifting between the six points of view of the eccentric cast propel the plot, although keeping all six stories straight is a challenge. Mix and Hannah play with dramatic irony and suspense, tipping tropes on their heads and subverting reader expectations while delivering a fun mystery that cleverly acts on the worldbuilding, ensuring most exposition moves the plot forward. The king’s murder wraps up quickly, with threads of the mystery pulling characters into political machinations of the wider world and the gods themselves. A queer romance adds spark as duty and desire collide, setting up further stakes for the sequel. The main cast reads as white.