These two books both thoroughly transported me into magical worlds set in the past. Much of special charm of these books is the fully realized worlds, with clear class structures, characters with wildly different agendas, and questions of who can be trusted and who may be deadly.

In A Magic Steeped in Poison, the world is Asian, and the magic is based on tea. I'm not a tea drinker, but this book almost convinced me to indulge and brought the scents and ceremonies of tea to vivid life. I've rarely seen food and drink and their meanings so integrated into a story. This young adult novel gives our character a desperate mission: saving her sick sister's life by winning a royal tournament, and adds layers of court intrigue and empire versus rebels on that very human story. I bled with the heroine as she battled.

In Blood and Moonlight, a more adult novel, architecture plays a key role, but the centerpieces of the book are a serial killer murdering prostitutes, a possibly deadly criminal profiler on the hunt, a woman who seems to be sinking further into mental illness, and the orphaned heroine of mysterous parentage who blames the convent where she was raised for keeping her parentage a secret. Magic is put on the page with loving detail which makes it feel as real as the old-time streets and class consideratoins. There is a sense of innocence and innocence lost with betrayals. Throughout the killer and his agenda are unclear.

What made both these books work so well was the layering of personal and bigger world and the intereaction of politics and class with very human struggles.

Both offer enjoyable reads - just decide on tea or serial killer and sit down to savor.