Web of Evil by N.L. Holmes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The more they dig the worse it gets. Absolutely love this series and need to go back to read Lord Hani’s series. Neferet and Bener-ib are back and once again find themselves amid a mystery.
It’s summer and the city heat can be overwhelming so the sunets take the orphans they care for to Neferet’s fathers’ country home on weekends to enjoy the open fields cooler air. What started as a calm day quickly became so much more when her father and brother-in-law return from their boat ride on the river with the body of a man that the reed cutters discovered. By the looks of the mans clothing they discover he must be from the local village and possibly a scribe. As midday looms overhead and the sun beats down on them Neferet, Bener-ib, Hani, Mut-tuy and their dog brute head to the village to speak with the mayor. Upon discovering that the mayor is a woman, Neferet is impressed and pleased at such a rare site but quickly discover the man, Tjay, is not well liked in the village and could have a long list of possible suspects in his passing. Meeting his wife Ta-em-resefu only confirms the dislike and the knowledge he did not treat her and their children well. Estranged from his entire family, besides a sister that is described as a strange bond with the entire village is a suspect. The webs begin for form when the wife explains that the mayor is Tjay’s stepmother, but that even she did not side with him and helped to protect his wife and children when he was in a bad mood.
In a village of potential suspects how will they narrow it down? With so many reasons to end him, what was the final straw? Will Neferet succeed before it’s too late and the webs catch her? Once more this author pulls you back in time giving you a historically beautiful world mixed with relatable current day mystery and suspense. We continue to see Neferet grow and evolve as she becomes more experienced in not only reading the people around her but the environment. Will she be able to learn enough to keep out of the traps being laid around her pulling her deeper into the webs of evil that surround what she thought was an innocent scribe taken too soon. I cannot wait to see what will come next from this author.

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