A tangle of time

The Wilbys are having a rare day off (after the events of The Hexologists, 2023), but between the theater and a dinner reservation, Isolde insists on checking up on a client she recently brushed off, a painter named Margit Rault, who had concerns about a mysterious patron. What should be a quick diversion turns into breaking and entering, then discovering Rault's brutally murdered body. The Wilbys are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the antagonistic Detective Broxburn, and then by a horrifying explosion--and then they are back in the theater. Isolde, now consumed by a powerful sense of déjà vu, visits Rault's studio but doesn't break in. This time, the death looks like a suicide, but the presence of the Wilbys' calling card arouses police suspicion. Something else is wrong: The portal inside Isolde's grandfather's magical carpet bag has gone missing. Matters get increasingly tangled as the Wilbys go digging for answers. The hexologists are nothing if not good at creative thinking (and doggedly determined), which makes for a messy but ultimately satisfying investigation with plenty of tension and hijinks.

Married couple Isolde and Warren Wilby, the nation's most celebrated investigators of the paranormal, find that time is doubling back on itself in their second outing, which twists and turns and tangles through time and space. Someone is rewriting time in their gas-lamp world; whenever it happens, Isolde is struck with a tremendous migraine, a case of déjà vu, and the sense that things aren't quite right, even though she can't remember what's wrong. As Isolde and Warren close in on the source of the temporal disruptions, their world fragments, and the original mystery they were trying to solve nearly gets lost in the unraveling. It takes dogged investigation and an undaunted willingness to follow a dangerous trail--no matter where it leads--for Isolde to find the real villain and use his own tricks against him to run him out of time. VERDICT In this sequel to Bancroft's The Hexologists, the Wilbies are off on another wild fantasy/mystery romp. The mystery is rooted in the Wilbies' fantastical world but is solved through earthly detective methods. Recommended for fans of the first book and for any readers who are enthralled with the still-ascendant trend of fantasy/mystery genre blends.--Marlene Harris