Dinios Kol is a new engraver, still an apprentice, assigned as assistant to Ana Dolabra, a brilliant, blunt, eccentric investigator.

Kol’s developing abilities are tested when a high-ranking imperial officer is found dead in a house owned by the empire’s most powerful business family. A tree has taken root and burst from the officer’s body.

Dolabra and Kol must solve the mystery. The case threatens the safety of the empire while simultaneously threatening the lives of Dolabra and Kol.

Robert Jackson Bennett pulls a wonderful trick with “The Tainted Cup.” 

He creates a fun mystery novel set within the world-building of science fiction. And what a world he builds — one filled with people who have been genetically enhanced to remember, to be stronger, to be more seductive, etc. 

They live in an empire with a mission to maintain the walls keeping it safe. In the waters outside of the walls, massive Leviathans threaten the empire. Keeping the Leviathans from breaching the walls is the empire’s prime mission.

With Kol serving as narrator, Bennett establishes a relationship between the young assistant and Dolabra reminiscent of Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes.

Dolabra certainly has eccentricities that rival Holmes. She wears a blindfold most of the time because she finds eyesight a distraction to her abilities to think. She regularly solves crimes without ever leaving her home.

With the help of an engraver, she doesn’t need to leave home. Engravers, such as Kol, are enhanced people who use scents to give them photographic memory. Kol can visit crime scenes, interrogate witnesses, then return to Dolabra and give her a full report.

Bennett has created something special here. Something for science fiction readers. Something for mystery readers. A big gift for readers who enjoy both genres.

There’s an additional gift for readers just discovering this novel.

“The Tainted Cup” is the first volume in the “Shadow of the Leviathan” series. Dolabra and Kol return in “A Drop of Corruption,” the second book of the series, released earlier this month.

Bat-Man: First Knight

The Bat-Man debuted in “Detective Comics” No. 27 way back on March 30, 1939.

“Bat-Man: First Knight” takes the dark knight detective back to the era of his creation. This three-issue mini-series, which has been collected in a trade paperback edition, isn’t reprints of the Bat-Man (rather than the modern spelling of Batman) but a gritty, new story by writer Dan Jurgens and artist Mike Perkins set in 1939.

As the back cover blurb notes: “The world, still reeling from the horrors of the First World War, is on the brink of tippiSet featured imageng into an even more gruesome conflict, as fascism is on the march – and gathering strength in America’s darkest corners. Against this backdrop, a series of violent murders has begun in Gotham, and the recent emergence of the mysterious vigilante known as the Bat-Man has the power brokers of the city living in fear of institutional collapse.”

A zombie-type gang of goons also terrorizes the city and its leaders. The gang appears to be comprised of violent criminals recently executed by electric chair.

Jurgens pens a riveting Bat-Man story. Perkins creates a hard-boiled 1930s look for Gotham. He also adapts the Bat-Man’s original costume developed by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Commissioner James Gordon resembles the original Gordon from the earliest comic books. Bruce Wayne looks like Gregory Peck.

There is no Robin, no Alfred, no Bat-mobile. Just the bare essentials of the original Bat-Man. 

“Bat-Man: First Knight” is a gripping read. A fun taste of the past, mixed with the punch of modern storytelling.

Note: This comic book is part of the DC Black Label imprint for mature audiences, due to language, violence and adult situations.