Lake of Flowers (The Lord Hani Mysteries, book 5) by N.L. Holmes – Review by Sherry Sharpnack

Lake of Flowers by N.L. Holmes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Lake of Flowers” is my second book by NL Holmes, who does a very thorough job creating ancient worlds that are new to me. In “The Lightning Horse,” we learned about the Hittite Empire; in the series of which “Lake of Flowers” is Book #5, we are in the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, in the reign of Queen Nefertiti (King Akhen-Khepra-Ra in the book).
Hani is a diplomat of the Dynasty. He is tasked by Lord Ay (the king’s father) and also by the Great Royal Wife Mery-Aten to look into the suspicious death of a midwife, and also into the thefts of small things from the Queen’s chamber. These are two completely different mysteries – or are they? But since the new king’s husband had just died, all diplomatic assignments are on hold, so Hani and his trusty secretary/son-in-law, Maya, set about investigating in both the new capital city and the old.
As I said, there is all sorts of world-building, as well as a BUNCH of confusing names. I would probably have been better off starting the series w book #1 but it was #5 that presented itself to me cheaply. I never did keep the names all straight, but really loved the action scenes, which Holmes writes very well, and Hani’s interactions w/ his family members, one of whom is a physician in the royal household, are also engaging. What does Hani’s physician daughter know about the thefts – or the midwife’s murder?
Things become progressively more complicated as the thefts turn out to be attempted poisonings – and more midwives start getting murdered. Do the murders have something to do w/ the actual parentage of the boy-prince, Haru-in-the-Nest (to be known as Tukhen-Aten to history)?
I like that the Lake of Flowers has to be crossed to get to the Field of Reeds – the afterlife. It is a lovely metaphor for Hani getting through the dangers caused by these investigations into a smoother life for himself and his family, although there is a lot of suspense and action getting to his smoother life!
The world created by the book has really stuck w/ me for days. Even though there are too many hard names of characters and places, and the plot line started s-l-o-w-l-y, I give the story 3.4 stars, rounded down to three.

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