Death of an Eye and Disappearance of a Scribe: Dana Stabenow takes a stab at Cleopatran mysteries

The first Dana Stabenow book I ever read was an audio version I picked up from the new books section at a library. Hunter's Moon looked like an interesting take on "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, which I am fond of reading/watching various versions of whenever I run across them, from random episodes of TV shows like "The Crow" to movies like "Surviving the Game." In this book, Kate Shugak, an Alaskan private investigator, has taken a side job as a guide for people on a corporate hunting retreat, and things end up going very badly, for them and for her. Parts of it are grim, but it's an exciting read, and I was interested enough in Kate to look for more.

It turns out that Hunter's Moon was the ninth in a series that is now up to 22 books, most of which I've read. Stabenow does a great job of characterizations, from Kate's continuing arc to her supporting cast to side characters, with immersive details on daily lives. Investigational scopes range from very personal crimes to arguments about sustainable exploitation of natural resources, to corporate corruption, to state politics. I highly recommend that series.

Stabenow has also written 5 books about Liam Campbell, a Mountie trying to rebuild his life, which are good but don't grab me quite as hard. She also wrote a few science fiction books early in her career. I looked at the first one, saw three things that threw me out of suspension of disbelief in the first few pages, and didn't read any further in that series. She's written a few other fiction and nonfiction books that I haven't seen yet.

So when I saw "Disappearance of a Scribe" in the new books section of my new library, I was curious enough to check it out. Mystery set in Cleopatran Egypt, by an author I enjoy a lot? Yes, please! But given that I don't love all Stabenow's books and genres, it took a while to move to the top of my To Be Read pile. Then I realized that this was actually the second book in the series. Luckily, Hoopla has an audio version of the first book, "Death of an Eye," so I was able to gobble them both up in rapid succession.

In this series, an Eye is the official investigator for Pharaoh, sort of like an Emperor's Voice / Imperial Auditor in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosiverse. Tetisheri, a childhood friend of Cleopatra's, is named as temporary Eye in the first book, to investigate the death of her predecessor and the theft of a fortune in newly minted coins. She's not trained in investigation, but as the heir-apparent of her uncle's trading house (having recently escaped from a very bad marriage), she is very observant and has a great many contacts, social and business. She's reluctant to take on this risk and burden, but Cleopatra generally gets what she wants.

Happily, she has assistance from her loyal household of freed slaves (she rescues strays when she gets chances), the ex-soldier and gym owner Apollodorus, and Sosigenes, head of the Library of Alexandria, along with others. It appears she'll continue collecting allies throughout her (secondary) career -- since I'd seen the second book first, it was no surprise that the temporary appointment turned permanent.

Complicating matters are all the factions arrayed against her queen, Cleopatra. Her siblings Ptolemy and the exiled Arsinoe would love to see her dead and themselves in control; ethnic Greeks who gained power when they came over and stayed with the original Ptolemy (Alexander's general) are unhappy to see how much influence Cleopatra is giving back to the local Egyptians (and their gods); and of course there are the Romans, from Caesar who is using Cleopatra as she uses him, to his supporters, some of whom back him fully and others who are concerned he is becoming "Orientalized", to his foes who want to undermine him and all his allies, to those who just despise Egyptians because they are not Roman. 

In each book so far, the mysteries themselves are not that complicated, with few red herrings diverting Tetisheri. She just has to ask the right people the right questions and put the pieces together, while avoiding being stopped permanently. But the politics and household issues and the lovely slow-burn romance, and the fact that I like Tetisheri and sympathize with Cleopatra and other characters, make these books thoroughly satisfying. I am definitely looking forward to the third book in the series, Theft of an Idol, coming out later this year. 

Content warnings: Death, violence although not too graphic, references to past domestic abuse, slavery, and ethnic/cultural/national discrimination by some characters. 

Comps:
Lois McMaster Bujold's Memory and following Vorkosiverse SF books with Miles as Imperial Auditor;
Lindsay Davis' Marcus Didius Falco mysteries set in Imperial Rome, with him as a private investigator, followed by Flavia Albia later. Especially the first in the series, The Silver Pigs, which involves silver ingots stolen from Roman Britain.