Book Review: The Inquisitor by H.C. Harrington

Genre(s): Fantasy

Content warning: There are a few fight scenes in this book, as well as more than one murder (one on the page, others alluded to).

Nestor was an inquisitor, until he fell in love. Breaking the Order of the Scroll’s vows for a woman wasn’t tolerated, and he was sentenced to 8 years in the dungeons. But after 2 years of imprisonment, he’s offered a deal: Help solve the murder of an influential man’s daughter, and he can go free. The catch? He has 5 days to accomplish his task.

Nestor is thrown into the murder investigation with little to go on. There are a number of suspects, each with a motive and evidence of potential guilt. All the while, he’s dealing with a bishop of his former order, who has a desire to see Nestor fail. Nestor doesn’t understand the bishop’s motivation, but he tries to ignore it while he focuses on the investigation—and securing his freedom.

This is another book I picked up from this year’s SPFBO competition. There were parts I liked and parts I didn’t, so my feelings on The Inquisitor are mixed.

I liked the mystery element of this book and thought it worked well in the fantasy setting. I enjoyed the overall storyline and the fact that I couldn’t pinpoint the perpetrator of the crime from the start. That aspect of the book was done pretty well. I also liked that the murderer wasn’t revealed until almost the end, which gave a sense of urgency to the story since Nestor was running out of time.

While I enjoyed the story, it had some editorial issues. If it was only a handful, I wouldn’t mention it here, but it was more than a handful. And some were enough to pull me completely out of the story.

I also wish the bishop’s motivation to see Nestor fail had been explained, but it never was. The bishop was cast as an angry, bitter man, but without understanding the reasons behind his actions, his character felt a bit flat.

The end wrapped Nestor’s investigation up nicely, and I liked the brief recap that was given for the investigation. I was also pleased to see Nestor get a happy ending, despite the bishop’s attempts to condemn him.

The Inquisitor was an interesting book and a quick read, if one that could have used a bit more polish.

Author’s Amazon Page: H. C. Harrington

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