Another great story in the Edinburgh Nights series. I love that Ropa and her group of friends don't let other people dictate how they view a situation. I also love that Ropa does not let others bully her into going against her moral code. I am very much looking forward to the next book, I cannot wait to see what situations Ropa and friends get into next.

Kimberly Mandindo did a great job narrating this story and I love listening to her accent. I will definitely look for more books narrated by Kimberly Mandindo in the future. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of blood, violence, death, torture (off page), ableism, classism and prejudice. In one scene a character that may be autistic or intellectually (coded) has been beaten (off page), framed for a crime and thrown in a dungeon. A person of colour is constantly misnamed by a white older male character throughout the book. There is a scene that discusses the loss of a child from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Other scenes include misogyny, imprisonment, ageism and homelessness.

T.L. Huchu is back for another fantastic addition to the Edinburgh Nights series with The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle. Ropa has bagged a ticket to the worldwide Society of Skeptical Enquirers’ biennial conference on the Isle of Skye, but of course, it comes with strings attached. She’s there as Sir Callander’s apprentice and that gives her a seat at the dinner table with the magical big wigs. But that’s only dinner, and until then she answers to Frances Cockburn, Director of Membership Services at the Society of Sceptical Enquirers and general thorn in her side. Cockburn has had it out for Ropa from the start and doesn’t believe that Ropa belongs in the Society. She has her running about doing all sorts of chores in preparation for the conference, jobs that Cockburn sees as being more fitting for Ropa as a ghosttalker.

The guest of honour at this year’s conference is the high wizard of Ethiopian magic, Qozmos, who has brought one of their most valuable magical scrolls to exchange with Scottish magicians. It all seems like everything is going to go well until the scroll is stolen moments after it leaves Qozmos’ hands. The scroll is stolen and tragedy strikes as someone is killed during the heist. In hot pursuit alongside Qozmos’ assistant Kebede, Ropa almost gets her hands on one of the perpetrators before being foiled by an invisible wall.

Believing it to be a trick utilised by the thieves, they return to learn that the wall is in fact a spell Sir Callander has conjured to stop the thieves from leaving. A giant bubble is now keeping everyone, including the thieves, in Dunvegan Castle and it’s grounds. With limited supplies, space and tensions rising, Ropa needs to find the thieves and fast. There’s added pressure from Sir Callander, who only trusts her to investigate, the Extraordinary Committee breathing down her neck and then England’s Sorcerer Royal who turned up unannounced, Ropa needs to be at the top of her game otherwise there are going to be some very serious consequences for Scottish magicians everywhere.

Joining Ropa in The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle are her best friends, Jomo and Priya, and together the three of them have a maze of secrets and politics to investigate. Rather than narrowing down their list of suspects it seems like their list gets bigger with every single person they speak to. To top it all off Ropa is struggling when she needs to be on top of her game. Everyone is watching her, and too many people are waiting for her to make a mistake. She doesn’t need her body to let her down, so when she starts having panic attacks her first instinct is to try to ignore them, to deny that they’re even happening.

I’ve read many books that include scenes of panic attacks, however, this is the first one that has ever mentioned pins and needles in limbs, something that I’ve personally experienced during an extreme panic attack. Huchu has taken great care when writing Ropa’s panic attacks, and in how Ropa vocalises how the loss of control makes her feel. As a healer, Priya instinctively and professionally recognises what her friend is going through. Rather than pressuring Ropa to accept it she is there for her friend, waiting for Ropa to open up to her. Only then does she broach the subject of panic attacks and rather than try to fix Ropa, Priya’s support is unwavering.

When Ropa is ready to ask for help Priya talks her through what is available, explaining that there isn’t a magic spell that can fix her. I appreciated the way that Huchu handled this sensitive topic, especially as he is writing in a fantasy setting. Too many authors see fantasy as an excuse to ignore mental and physical health, to sweep it under the magical rug. The fact that Huchu has not chosen to do this in a young adult novel is extremely important and there is a great scene between Ropa and Priya that I believe will be very insightful to young readers.

Priya herself is another example of the way Huchu doesn’t use fantasy as an excuse. As a wheelchair user she has been alongside Ropa in her adventures from day one, right in the middle of all the chaos and danger. Unlike other authors who push their disabled characters off into the sidelines and would never dream of letting them near a battle, Huchu has created a disabled character who is a spell slinging fighter that uses ambulatory magic to move around. In The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle we get to see just what Priya can do, and she’s a complete badass!

There is also a character, Murdo, the Castle gardener that may be autistic-coded or coded for an intellectual disability. Ropa doesn’t have the knowledge or the language to recognise Murdo’s disability, but the way he is described and how other characters react to him suggests that he may be.

The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle brings us more information about the way magic and politics work in Scotland and England. There are many moving parts in this one and from the moment the Lord Sashvindu Samarasinghe, England’s Sorcerer Royal, appears it is clear that things are never going to be the same after this conference. The setting of a conference also means that we get to meet a lot of interesting characters, and see one’s we’ve already met before. A personal favourite of mine was Mrs. Featherstone who has some cracking lines. Speaking of language, Ropa’s pop culture slang keeps getting better with each book and some of my personal favourites this time include “frostier than Bobby Drake”, “prick to the nth power” and “I need the Prince of Persia’s rewind button”.

I could keep going on and on about this book and every book in the Edinburgh Nights series. Huchu delivers a fantastic book every time and I can’t wait for the next Ropa adventure.

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