A Parliament of Bodies by Marshall Ryan Maresca – Review

Published: March 26, 2019

Publisher: Daw Books

Series: The Maradaine Constabulary #3

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 400 (Mass Market)

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Mixing high fantasy and mystery, the third book in the Maradaine Constabulary series follows Inspectors Satrine Rainey and Minox Welling as they track down a dangerous murderer.

The city of Maradaine is vexed by the Gearbox Murders: a series of gruesome deaths orchestrated by a twisted mechanical genius. With no motive and no pattern, Inspectors Satrine Rainey and Minox Welling–the retired spy and untrained mage–are at a loss to find a meaningful lead in the case. At least, until the killer makes his most audacious exhibit yet: over a dozen victims in a clockwork deathtrap on the floor of the Druth Parliament.

The crime scene is a madhouse, and political forces conspire to grind their investigation to a halt. The King’s Marshals claim jurisdiction of the case, corruption in the Constabulary thwarts their efforts, and a special Inquest threatens to end Minox’s career completely. Their only ally is Dayne Heldrin, a provisional member of the Tarian Order, elite warriors trained in the art of protection. But Dayne’s connection to the Gearbox Murders casts suspicion on his motives, as he might be obsessed with a phantom figure he believes is responsible.

While Satrine and Minox struggle to stop the Gearbox from claiming even more victims, the grinding gears of injustice might keep them from ever solving these murders, and threaten to dismantle their partnership forever.

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Once again MRM has given his readers another glorious fantasy crime drama genre mash-up and I loved every page of it! This is the third book in the Maradaine Constabulary series and it may just be my favorite yet. The stakes are much higher, the plot has a sense of urgency that I don’t recall in the previous books, and if you’ve read all the other Maradaine books you’ll recognize some character cross overs that always make me lose my mind. I love it when the characters cross over even though it’s not really surprising.

Inspectors Rainey and Welling, now members of the Grand Inspectors Unit, have been working a series of grisly killings dubbed The Gearbox Murders. Dayne Heldrin, initiate of the Tarian Order, believes the murders to be the work of Sholiar, a murderous genius he encountered during his stay in Lacanya(??), so when the killer sets up his latest grisly contraption on the floor of Parliament he knows just who to summon. It quickly becomes suspect that this is an insider job – how else could have the deadly contraption have been installed with no one the wiser? People are in danger, there are possible traitors at every turn, and the icing on the proverbial cake is that Minnox is being evaluated to see if he’s truly fit for duty after the events of the previous book.

I pretty much love every character in this book though of course Satrine and Minnox are my favorites, with Corrie Welling a close runner up. I maintain my opinion that Dayne Heldrin is an idiot and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon. Minnox’s magical hand remains a largely unexplained oddity though it is now known to be quite the danger. Satrine’s past isn’t quite the secret she thought it was, though we readers don’t get much additional info there.

All in all, A Parliament of Bodies was a solid, entertaining book that I read in a single, very long sitting. I literally did not put this book down all day and carried it around the house with me to get snacks, relocate, etc. because I was utterly engrossed. I’m both slightly miffed and glad that I only have to wait a handful of months before the next Maradaine installment is released.