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Bones & Betrayals: Silence of the Dead
“A magical murder mystery filled with magnificent mirth and mayhem.”
Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons)
“It’s like The Thursday Murder Club and Randall & Deceased mixed together. Thursday Fantasy Murder Mystery Club, if you will.”
Tom Bookbeard (fanfiaddict.com)
“If you like fantasy mystery with a good deal of silliness thrown in for good measure, then Bones & Silence of the Dead is a book where you can have your pie and eat it.”
Fantasy Book Nerd (fantasybooknerd.com)
“Bones and Silence of the Dead is a must-read for anyone who likes their mystery with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor and a pinch of zippity-pow.”
Jodie Crump (Witty & Sarcastic Book Club)
“This novel delivers the perfect amount of bang for your entertainment buck. A satisfying combination of mystery, tension, magic, and stupid jokes and puns.”
HC Newton (Irresponsible Reader)
Murder has come to the city of Tronte...
Holtar didn’t become a necromancer for the prestige—he did it because talking to the dead is marginally easier than dealing with the living. Unfortunately, his latest case has given him a fresh the corpses aren’t talking.
No last words. No cryptic riddles. Just silence. And silence, as it turns out, is very bad when your job depends on listening to the dead speak of their final moments.
With only a snarky, possessed skull called Seymour as his companion, Holtar must unravel a conspiracy that threatens both the living and the dead—one that grows more tangled, absurd, and dangerously personal with every once-bitten pastry.
Silence of the Dead is a fantasy mystery with the wit of a detective comedy—where necromancy is just another thankless job, the dead refuse to talk, and the killer has an unsettling passion for pastry-based clues.
Bones & Silence of the Dead is written by Erica Marks & Andi Ewington
Cover art by Calum Alexander Watt
Jim Zub (Conan the Barbarian, Dungeons & Dragons)
“It’s like The Thursday Murder Club and Randall & Deceased mixed together. Thursday Fantasy Murder Mystery Club, if you will.”
Tom Bookbeard (fanfiaddict.com)
“If you like fantasy mystery with a good deal of silliness thrown in for good measure, then Bones & Silence of the Dead is a book where you can have your pie and eat it.”
Fantasy Book Nerd (fantasybooknerd.com)
“Bones and Silence of the Dead is a must-read for anyone who likes their mystery with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor and a pinch of zippity-pow.”
Jodie Crump (Witty & Sarcastic Book Club)
“This novel delivers the perfect amount of bang for your entertainment buck. A satisfying combination of mystery, tension, magic, and stupid jokes and puns.”
HC Newton (Irresponsible Reader)
Murder has come to the city of Tronte...
Holtar didn’t become a necromancer for the prestige—he did it because talking to the dead is marginally easier than dealing with the living. Unfortunately, his latest case has given him a fresh the corpses aren’t talking.
No last words. No cryptic riddles. Just silence. And silence, as it turns out, is very bad when your job depends on listening to the dead speak of their final moments.
With only a snarky, possessed skull called Seymour as his companion, Holtar must unravel a conspiracy that threatens both the living and the dead—one that grows more tangled, absurd, and dangerously personal with every once-bitten pastry.
Silence of the Dead is a fantasy mystery with the wit of a detective comedy—where necromancy is just another thankless job, the dead refuse to talk, and the killer has an unsettling passion for pastry-based clues.
Bones & Silence of the Dead is written by Erica Marks & Andi Ewington
Cover art by Calum Alexander Watt
286 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2025
7 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 10, 2025
I’ll admit it: I picked this up for the cover. (Yes, I might have been hungry. Honestly, when isn’t a good time for pie?) Thankfully, the contents were just as satisfying!
Bones and Betrayal: The Silence of the Dead by Marks Ewington (Erica Marks & Andi Ewington) kicks off a new series with a murder mystery that has its fair share of dark moments, but also lots of humour and almost a cosy-dark feel. It is a little less warm and fuzzy than other cosy-darks, but overall I think it will appeal to the same audience.
The city of Tronte is in uproar:
Amidst this chaos, we meet necromancer Holtar and his reanimated skull companion, Seymour. Holtar’s past is steeped in trauma, and his natural pessimism contrasts beautifully with Seymour’s irreverence and constant wisecracks:
Holtar’s necromancy isn’t just window dressing. It’s woven deep into the worldbuilding, the plot, and the characters’ lives. I especially liked how the book challenges the usual stereotype of necromancers:
Seymour’s existence adds both comedy and absurdity, like happily munching poisoned cake, clearly evidence of the murder. The book gives you a “Don’t ask how a skull eats cake. You don’t even want to know.” kind of explanation, which had me chuckling. It’s that mix of humour and darkness that gives the book its particular flavour.
Holtar is no master detective. Normally he just asks the victims who killed them, but here he’s forced to follow clues. Unfortunately, the clues are a bit too plentiful and obvious. I figured out the murderer early on, and one conversation in particular all but solved it. Characters were perhaps a bit too willing to offer up incriminating details. Nevertheless our duo keeps wondering and quite stuck in the dark. I wanted to shake them at times for just how oblivious they were. This is my one real criticism, and I hope future books dial back the breadcrumb trail.
Still, the heart of the story is the banter, the relationships, and the gradual reveals about Holtar’s and Seymour’s pasts. The balance of action, humour, and more thoughtful moments made it an easy, enjoyable read, with enough depth to avoid feeling like pure fluff.
Extra bonus points for the absence of a romance plot, though Holtar notices women. It is more part of him being lonely, and not at all a focus. Especially the lack of “male gaze” descriptions was such a nice reprieve. Female characters are well written and treated with respect, which is sadly rare in this style of book.
A murder mystery that is less about the puzzle and more about the journey, with a sardonic necromancer, a snarky skull, and a world brimming with life and death. Funny, dark, and full of charm, it is a series opener that leaves you as eager for the next misadventure as for the next round of pie!
Bones and Betrayal: The Silence of the Dead by Marks Ewington (Erica Marks & Andi Ewington) kicks off a new series with a murder mystery that has its fair share of dark moments, but also lots of humour and almost a cosy-dark feel. It is a little less warm and fuzzy than other cosy-darks, but overall I think it will appeal to the same audience.
The city of Tronte is in uproar:
Clerics and paladins exchanged heated vows; wizards and barbarians locked eyes, daring one another to strike first and unleash mayhem. Rogues, long known for backstabbing, had taken to stabbing their victims in the chest—just to make their intentions unmistakable.
Amidst this chaos, we meet necromancer Holtar and his reanimated skull companion, Seymour. Holtar’s past is steeped in trauma, and his natural pessimism contrasts beautifully with Seymour’s irreverence and constant wisecracks:
“Exactly where are we going? Not that I’m complaining—I do enjoy being carried from one mysterious destination to another. It’s just in case I need to pack anything for the journey,” Seymour quipped.
Holtar’s necromancy isn’t just window dressing. It’s woven deep into the worldbuilding, the plot, and the characters’ lives. I especially liked how the book challenges the usual stereotype of necromancers:
Necromancers were feared, vilified, spat upon as unnatural abominations… And yet, despite the suspicion and scorn, necromancers celebrated and embraced life more deeply than most.
Seymour’s existence adds both comedy and absurdity, like happily munching poisoned cake, clearly evidence of the murder. The book gives you a “Don’t ask how a skull eats cake. You don’t even want to know.” kind of explanation, which had me chuckling. It’s that mix of humour and darkness that gives the book its particular flavour.
Holtar is no master detective. Normally he just asks the victims who killed them, but here he’s forced to follow clues. Unfortunately, the clues are a bit too plentiful and obvious. I figured out the murderer early on, and one conversation in particular all but solved it. Characters were perhaps a bit too willing to offer up incriminating details. Nevertheless our duo keeps wondering and quite stuck in the dark. I wanted to shake them at times for just how oblivious they were. This is my one real criticism, and I hope future books dial back the breadcrumb trail.
Still, the heart of the story is the banter, the relationships, and the gradual reveals about Holtar’s and Seymour’s pasts. The balance of action, humour, and more thoughtful moments made it an easy, enjoyable read, with enough depth to avoid feeling like pure fluff.
Extra bonus points for the absence of a romance plot, though Holtar notices women. It is more part of him being lonely, and not at all a focus. Especially the lack of “male gaze” descriptions was such a nice reprieve. Female characters are well written and treated with respect, which is sadly rare in this style of book.
A murder mystery that is less about the puzzle and more about the journey, with a sardonic necromancer, a snarky skull, and a world brimming with life and death. Funny, dark, and full of charm, it is a series opener that leaves you as eager for the next misadventure as for the next round of pie!
August 29, 2025
Silent Witness meets Guards Guards in Erica Marks’ and Andi Ewington’s new adventure set in the world of The Hero Interviews.
Holtar (the necromancer from The Hero Interviews) has moved to Tronte, a little backwater of a town, after a little incident at his previous place of residence. In order to earn a crust, he soon finds a job (well not so much as finds, but has it thrust upon him) working for the local constabulary talking to the dead and finding out their unfortunate demise (and also keeping Captain Moorhouse’s figures for crime rate detection up)
We meet Holtar as he is dragged into a case where the victim has been poisoned by a pie. As the bodies pile up, Holtar along with his trusty sidekick, Seymour, the pie snaffling talking skull, sets about trying to solve the mystery. Oh and find the murderer, save the city and his own bacon. In three days! Coz Captain Moorland says so.
Marks and Ewington successfully mix wry humour and mystery together to weave together an enjoyable tale of fantasy intrigue.
The main thing that makes this book so entertaining is the chemistry between Holtar and Seymour who bounce off each other like a set of billiard balls. The plot trundles along quite quickly as Holtar and Seymour move from one bad situation to the next with the undynamic duo attempting to find the connection between the evergrowing pile of bodies. Whilst the mystery aspect is light and not laden with overly complex twists and turns, it is the getting from point A to point B that is the most engaging aspect of the book.
If you like fantasy mystery with a good deal of silliness thrown in for good measure, then Bones & Betrayals: Silence of the Dead is a book where you can have your pie and eat it.
July 15, 2025
Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead is a fun fantasy mystery that takes place in the world of The Hero Interviews. You definitely don’t need to have read The Hero Interviews to understand or enjoy this book, though. It’s a “same world, different story” sort of situation. Although, I would suggest reading The Hero Interviews at some point anyway, because it’s fantastic.
I am either slow to things, or else fantasy mystery has become more popular lately. Either way, I am here for it! This book puts a rather lighthearted spin on the subgenre (although there are still serious moments to be had), setting it apart from some of the more intense fantasy mystery offerings I’ve read recently.
Holtar is a different sort of investigator. Technically, he’s not an investigator at all. He’s a necromancer with a knack for getting answers from victims. He and his companion, a snarktastic talking skull named Seymour, find themselves at a loss when they learn the newest corpse can’t talk. Its soul has been taken, adding an unexpected wrench to the proceedings. What follows is a madcap rush to solve the mystery as the body count adds up.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between Holtar and Seymour. There’s a history there and it comes through in their interactions. Seymour himself is extremely funny. I laughed at the idea of a skull somehow eating evidence. To be fair, if dying from food poisoning is no longer a concern (what with the whole “already dead” state of things), why not eat the pie? They made for an odd yet entertaining detective duo as they tried to puzzle out clues without revealing just how far in over their heads they were.
This isn’t a mystery where the motive and means are the main concern, or where the mystery itself takes pride of place, although that’s all well done. Instead, it’s Holt and Seymour who make the book the rewarding experience it is.
The mystery itself wasn’t one that had clues as much as reveals. What I mean by this is, in order to be able to piece together the clues seeded throughout the book, you would need to have a knowledge of the workings of the world that isn’t necessarily available in the book itself. I see this sometimes in fantasy mysteries. These books have an extra hurdle that the usual mystery doesn’t: the rules of a “regular” mystery are set. We all know what a knife does, that the murderer can’t time travel, etc. A fantasy mystery plays by different rules, ones that are set up and explained in the context of the author’s writing. In this case, while I had my suspicions (I like to pretend I’m astute and try to guess the “who done it” when I read a mystery), I realized that many of the clues wouldn’t make sense until the world itself unfolded throughout the course of the story.
With Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead, the joy really was in the journey. How would the mystery be solved? Would our intrepid duo survive the adventure? Can a skull really lose its breath, and how on earth does that work? How far in over his head is Holtar in terms of measurement? The sense of humor was found in full force, with inside jokes and funny references scattered throughout like clues.
While different in tone and concept than The Hero Interviews, the book nonetheless added something special to the world. Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead is a must-read for anyone who likes their mystery with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor and a pinch of zippity-pow. Pick this one up for a rolllicking good time. Just don’t eat the pie.
Thank you to the authors for providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not affect my opinion in any way. Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead will be available on August 5, 2025.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
I am either slow to things, or else fantasy mystery has become more popular lately. Either way, I am here for it! This book puts a rather lighthearted spin on the subgenre (although there are still serious moments to be had), setting it apart from some of the more intense fantasy mystery offerings I’ve read recently.
Holtar is a different sort of investigator. Technically, he’s not an investigator at all. He’s a necromancer with a knack for getting answers from victims. He and his companion, a snarktastic talking skull named Seymour, find themselves at a loss when they learn the newest corpse can’t talk. Its soul has been taken, adding an unexpected wrench to the proceedings. What follows is a madcap rush to solve the mystery as the body count adds up.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between Holtar and Seymour. There’s a history there and it comes through in their interactions. Seymour himself is extremely funny. I laughed at the idea of a skull somehow eating evidence. To be fair, if dying from food poisoning is no longer a concern (what with the whole “already dead” state of things), why not eat the pie? They made for an odd yet entertaining detective duo as they tried to puzzle out clues without revealing just how far in over their heads they were.
This isn’t a mystery where the motive and means are the main concern, or where the mystery itself takes pride of place, although that’s all well done. Instead, it’s Holt and Seymour who make the book the rewarding experience it is.
The mystery itself wasn’t one that had clues as much as reveals. What I mean by this is, in order to be able to piece together the clues seeded throughout the book, you would need to have a knowledge of the workings of the world that isn’t necessarily available in the book itself. I see this sometimes in fantasy mysteries. These books have an extra hurdle that the usual mystery doesn’t: the rules of a “regular” mystery are set. We all know what a knife does, that the murderer can’t time travel, etc. A fantasy mystery plays by different rules, ones that are set up and explained in the context of the author’s writing. In this case, while I had my suspicions (I like to pretend I’m astute and try to guess the “who done it” when I read a mystery), I realized that many of the clues wouldn’t make sense until the world itself unfolded throughout the course of the story.
With Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead, the joy really was in the journey. How would the mystery be solved? Would our intrepid duo survive the adventure? Can a skull really lose its breath, and how on earth does that work? How far in over his head is Holtar in terms of measurement? The sense of humor was found in full force, with inside jokes and funny references scattered throughout like clues.
While different in tone and concept than The Hero Interviews, the book nonetheless added something special to the world. Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead is a must-read for anyone who likes their mystery with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor and a pinch of zippity-pow. Pick this one up for a rolllicking good time. Just don’t eat the pie.
Thank you to the authors for providing me with a review copy of this book. This did not affect my opinion in any way. Bones and Betrayals: Silence of the Dead will be available on August 5, 2025.
https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.hom...
August 11, 2025
Recent Reads: The Silence of The Dead. The first of Andi Ewington and Erica Marks' Bones and Betrayals mysteries is the promising start to a series. Dark elf necromancer Holtar and his skull sidekick try to solve a series of murders linked by pies. But who stole the souls? Pratchett meets Murderbot.
August 3, 2025
Fun like a murder mystery in Pratchettland with more than meets the eye characters. And bring some food for the journey because you'll either want some pie or some evershade sorbet...
December 12, 2025
WHODUNIT!?
This is a delightful book, steeped in the best traditions of Agatha Christie and Terry Pratchett.
Am I being hyperbolical? Juuuust a smidge, but you've got to trust me, not THAT hyperbolical.
Andi Ewington and Erika Marks wrote a book that has great energy and humor. It never takes itself too seriously, but at the same time it shows incredible skill and craft to be a perfect blend of humor and mystery.
Holtar and Seymour form a brilliant pair, as far as a dark elf necromancer and a talking skull (former thief) can be.
The writing style, the voice and the story draw heavy inspiration from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, every page has humor, but it's perfectly placed, perfectly measured and undoubtedly fun.
The mystery side is also brilliantly handled, keeping your attention tight, showing you the threads, laying it all out for you to see and wonder, teasing you with answers, and playing with you to see if you can spot the murderer before the case is cracked.
I won't ruin plot or story, I am not spoiling a damn thing, because you deserve to discover all of it when reading the book.
I have revealed enough as it is.
Now go and buy this book and enjoy it.
4.8 ⭐️
This is a delightful book, steeped in the best traditions of Agatha Christie and Terry Pratchett.
Am I being hyperbolical? Juuuust a smidge, but you've got to trust me, not THAT hyperbolical.
Andi Ewington and Erika Marks wrote a book that has great energy and humor. It never takes itself too seriously, but at the same time it shows incredible skill and craft to be a perfect blend of humor and mystery.
Holtar and Seymour form a brilliant pair, as far as a dark elf necromancer and a talking skull (former thief) can be.
The writing style, the voice and the story draw heavy inspiration from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, every page has humor, but it's perfectly placed, perfectly measured and undoubtedly fun.
The mystery side is also brilliantly handled, keeping your attention tight, showing you the threads, laying it all out for you to see and wonder, teasing you with answers, and playing with you to see if you can spot the murderer before the case is cracked.
I won't ruin plot or story, I am not spoiling a damn thing, because you deserve to discover all of it when reading the book.
I have revealed enough as it is.
Now go and buy this book and enjoy it.
4.8 ⭐️
August 14, 2025
Ewington and Marks team up to serve a slice of CSI-Fi Fantasy in a delicious fantasy murder mystery. You will never look at a pie the same way again ...
Bones & Betrayals: Silence of the Dead sees us follow over the shoulder of Holtar, Tronte's only necromancer, and his skull associate, Seymour, a loudmouth, wise-cracking former thief with a voracious appetite.
The murder plot successfully delivers that 'easily solvable yet you'll kick yourself for not getting it sooner' feel, a must for the murder mystery genre.
Silence of the Dead is ultimately a great deal of fun. It dances between darkness and silliness in good measure, Holtar and Seymour bouncing off each other throughout. It's a little like The Thursday Murder Club and Randall & Hopkirk: Deceased get a fantasy write-up.
Well worth a read.
Bones & Betrayals: Silence of the Dead sees us follow over the shoulder of Holtar, Tronte's only necromancer, and his skull associate, Seymour, a loudmouth, wise-cracking former thief with a voracious appetite.
The murder plot successfully delivers that 'easily solvable yet you'll kick yourself for not getting it sooner' feel, a must for the murder mystery genre.
Silence of the Dead is ultimately a great deal of fun. It dances between darkness and silliness in good measure, Holtar and Seymour bouncing off each other throughout. It's a little like The Thursday Murder Club and Randall & Hopkirk: Deceased get a fantasy write-up.
Well worth a read.
September 15, 2025
GREAT FUN!!
Fast paced plot forward story. Classic fantasy with the dead! What’s not to love? Charming sidekick bonus! Looking forward to the next book!
Fast paced plot forward story. Classic fantasy with the dead! What’s not to love? Charming sidekick bonus! Looking forward to the next book!
October 18, 2025
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S BONES & BETRAYAL: SILENCE OF THE DEAD ABOUT?
Holtar is a former adventurer who has left that life for a quieter and safer option in the city. Sadly, as a necromancer, he's only somewhat welcome. He's a walking NIMBY target, really. Being a Dark Elf probably doesn't help much, either.
But the Captain of the city guard has decided he has a use—who better to help than a necromancer who can call the dead back long enough to ask who killed them? It really tends to make solving a murder pretty easy (and, for all his good points, it really seems that Capt. Moorland isn't incredibly well-suited for solving crimes). So it's really not much of an event for Holtar to be called to the shop of a merchant specializing in strange goods to consult on his storeowner's death.
It becomes an event when Holtar can't raise him—in fact, quickly decides that his death points to a dark magic that runs a chill down his spine. Holtar and his partner barely start investigating this murder before another one happens. And there's really no reason to doubt that the killer is just getting started.
Also...will the charming elven baker's business be able to survive when the word gets out that her pies have been weaponized and turned into the murderer's weapon? (assuming she isn't the killer)
HOLTAR
I'll be the first to admit, I'm not knowledgeable about necromancers. There's the one in The Hobbit, and a couple here and there that I'm familiar with. Oh, and of course, Adam Holcombe's Gam Gam. But that's not really many—and really, the specialty doesn't appeal to me. So, I really didn't know what to expect out of Holtar.
I didn't figure on a Dark Elf with anxiety and no natural grace (the guy can't even climb wooden stairs without creaking like crazy—who knew that was possible for an elf?). He seems to have a strong degree of talent, with one trademarked spell—and, who knows, he might have more to develop if he wasn't putting up with Moorland's chores.
With his adventuring days behind him, he really just wants a quiet life—and who can't relate to that?
It's easy to forget what Holtar does for a living throughout the book, but the authors will slip in a quick reminder here and there to remind you that there's something inherently creepy about Holtar and his magic. He is not a creep himself, but necromancers aren't particularly popular people in this world. For good reason.
One way we're reminded of the dark nature of Holtar's magic is this impulse he calls The Urge, which is essentially an impulse to let the magic go wild and raise whatever dead happen to be in range of his abilities. Holtar's worried enough about it that I can't help but wonder if at some point or another, he didn't resist The Urge to calamitous results.
Another way is Holtar's friend/partner...
SEYMOUR
Seymour is a thief—a full-fledged member of the Thieves Guild—who used to travel and work with Holtar until...well, for our purposes, we'll call it an industrial accident. Remember that their industry involved parties of adventurers who included a necromancer. But thanks to the same necromancer, Seymour isn't (as Miracle Max would say) all dead. He doesn't have much of a body—or any organs, he's simply a talking skull.
Somehow, he can eat, drink, and move around—don't ask Holtar how any of that works. Which is great fodder for comedy and a pretty neat trick, all things considered. Seymour has a great sense of humor, he loves puns (I'm talking puns/wordplay that would make Burt Ward's Robin distancing himself), and is not above joking about his body-less state. He's also a loyal friend who has some pretty clever ideas from time to time (although he typically reserves his cleverness for quips and pranks). He's the ultimate in wise-cracking sidekicks.
But Holtar is very aware of the optics of a necromancer carrying around a skull that he talks to all the time. So, he pretty much hides Seymour and only takes him out in private.
If you have only one talking skull in your literary life, go with Dresden's Bob. If you have room for two, however, Seymour is your guy.*
* I can see myself being open to changing the ranking after another book or two.
THE TONE
This is a buddy-cop kind of book, technically a buddy-P.I. (of sorts). A partnership full of banter and rarely expressed affection, and obvious loyalty. On page or screen, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
It's best to think of this as a PI novel set in a Fantasy world—the tone and focus hold up better than if you think of it as a Fantasy novel featuring PI-types. (That's still correct, but I think it gets the accent in the wrong spot).
There are hard-boiled elements, but it's still light-hearted and comedic. It's not a cozy, but it's not far off from it. I think it's a shade less cozy than Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust, for example.
While most of the banter comes from the interplay between Holtar and Seymour, that's not all of it. The same kind of humor displayed in Ewington's The Hero Interviews or the sillier parts of Peter David's Apropos of Nothing books is more than evident here. I could bask in the jokes for a while (and have).
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BONES & BETRAYAL: SILENCE OF THE DEAD?
There's a lot to commend about this book, and very little to quibble with. There's some really subtle world-building at work here, including some nice references to Ewington's Hero Interviews, and this expands and adds depth to that world nicely. There are some wonderfully composed sentences in this book—they're just so efficient that they can deliver a paragraph's worth of meaning in them—moving the plot forward, or showing a character trait—while doing some effective world-building. Or a combination of the others. This happens often enough that I had to stop and admire them, because it's one thing to do that once or twice—but Marks and Ewington did it often enough that it had to be purposeful, and it's just so nice to see, particularly in Fantasy which has a tendency to take too long with this kind of thing.
This is a really good PI story, first and foremost. I think it takes Holtar a little too long to figure out what's motivating the killer—I talked back a lot to the book on these lines. I don't know if it'd have hurt things for him to suss that out as quickly as he should've. But the rest of the mystery elements are so well done that I can shrug that off (mostly). There’s some good comedy going on, but it’s not the focus–it’s a function of how Holtar’s mind works and the way he and Seymour relate. So, yeah, it’s funny–but it’s not a goofy mystery. It fits along Duncan MacMaster, Gregory Mcdonald, Lee Goldberg, and Marshall Karp’s early works. Which means it’s just what I want a steady diet of.
Then you get the whole Fantasy world of it all–so there’s the D&D-ness of The Hero Interviews. But also the Fantasy+mystery novel of Alex Bledsoe, Luke Arnold, and Keith DeCandido’s Precinct novels. Also, the tone of The Chronicles of Pell (that's the closest match I can think of right now).
I really want to spend more time with Seymour and Holtar, for the sheer entertainment of the banter alone. But I also like seeing their partnership at work, and a solid buddy-dynamic like theirs should be celebrated as often as possible. I’d like to see something develop between the flirtation between Holtar and [name withheld] (although I'm not certain the attraction is two-way, but dealt with correctly, that could be funny). I could enjoy seeing Holtar butt heads with Moorland more, or Moorland being replaced by someone, too–really not sure I care. And, I’m super curious about the events that the ending sets up for Book Two.
This novel delivers the perfect amount of bang for your entertainment buck. It is a satisfying combination of mystery, tension, magic, and stupid jokes and puns. The friendship that forms the heart of this book will endear you to the protagonists as much as their banter will make you grin. Setting the whole thing in a Fantasy world that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who reads the genre or has played D&D, just makes the whole thing even more satisfying. I had a blast with this–and I literally have a list of people I’ll be giving this to as a gift. I’m eagerly awaiting another two or three installments in this series already.
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WHAT'S BONES & BETRAYAL: SILENCE OF THE DEAD ABOUT?
Holtar is a former adventurer who has left that life for a quieter and safer option in the city. Sadly, as a necromancer, he's only somewhat welcome. He's a walking NIMBY target, really. Being a Dark Elf probably doesn't help much, either.
But the Captain of the city guard has decided he has a use—who better to help than a necromancer who can call the dead back long enough to ask who killed them? It really tends to make solving a murder pretty easy (and, for all his good points, it really seems that Capt. Moorland isn't incredibly well-suited for solving crimes). So it's really not much of an event for Holtar to be called to the shop of a merchant specializing in strange goods to consult on his storeowner's death.
It becomes an event when Holtar can't raise him—in fact, quickly decides that his death points to a dark magic that runs a chill down his spine. Holtar and his partner barely start investigating this murder before another one happens. And there's really no reason to doubt that the killer is just getting started.
Also...will the charming elven baker's business be able to survive when the word gets out that her pies have been weaponized and turned into the murderer's weapon? (assuming she isn't the killer)
HOLTAR
I'll be the first to admit, I'm not knowledgeable about necromancers. There's the one in The Hobbit, and a couple here and there that I'm familiar with. Oh, and of course, Adam Holcombe's Gam Gam. But that's not really many—and really, the specialty doesn't appeal to me. So, I really didn't know what to expect out of Holtar.
I didn't figure on a Dark Elf with anxiety and no natural grace (the guy can't even climb wooden stairs without creaking like crazy—who knew that was possible for an elf?). He seems to have a strong degree of talent, with one trademarked spell—and, who knows, he might have more to develop if he wasn't putting up with Moorland's chores.
With his adventuring days behind him, he really just wants a quiet life—and who can't relate to that?
It's easy to forget what Holtar does for a living throughout the book, but the authors will slip in a quick reminder here and there to remind you that there's something inherently creepy about Holtar and his magic. He is not a creep himself, but necromancers aren't particularly popular people in this world. For good reason.
One way we're reminded of the dark nature of Holtar's magic is this impulse he calls The Urge, which is essentially an impulse to let the magic go wild and raise whatever dead happen to be in range of his abilities. Holtar's worried enough about it that I can't help but wonder if at some point or another, he didn't resist The Urge to calamitous results.
Another way is Holtar's friend/partner...
SEYMOUR
Seymour is a thief—a full-fledged member of the Thieves Guild—who used to travel and work with Holtar until...well, for our purposes, we'll call it an industrial accident. Remember that their industry involved parties of adventurers who included a necromancer. But thanks to the same necromancer, Seymour isn't (as Miracle Max would say) all dead. He doesn't have much of a body—or any organs, he's simply a talking skull.
Somehow, he can eat, drink, and move around—don't ask Holtar how any of that works. Which is great fodder for comedy and a pretty neat trick, all things considered. Seymour has a great sense of humor, he loves puns (I'm talking puns/wordplay that would make Burt Ward's Robin distancing himself), and is not above joking about his body-less state. He's also a loyal friend who has some pretty clever ideas from time to time (although he typically reserves his cleverness for quips and pranks). He's the ultimate in wise-cracking sidekicks.
But Holtar is very aware of the optics of a necromancer carrying around a skull that he talks to all the time. So, he pretty much hides Seymour and only takes him out in private.
If you have only one talking skull in your literary life, go with Dresden's Bob. If you have room for two, however, Seymour is your guy.*
* I can see myself being open to changing the ranking after another book or two.
THE TONE
This is a buddy-cop kind of book, technically a buddy-P.I. (of sorts). A partnership full of banter and rarely expressed affection, and obvious loyalty. On page or screen, I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
It's best to think of this as a PI novel set in a Fantasy world—the tone and focus hold up better than if you think of it as a Fantasy novel featuring PI-types. (That's still correct, but I think it gets the accent in the wrong spot).
There are hard-boiled elements, but it's still light-hearted and comedic. It's not a cozy, but it's not far off from it. I think it's a shade less cozy than Baldree's Bookshops & Bonedust, for example.
While most of the banter comes from the interplay between Holtar and Seymour, that's not all of it. The same kind of humor displayed in Ewington's The Hero Interviews or the sillier parts of Peter David's Apropos of Nothing books is more than evident here. I could bask in the jokes for a while (and have).
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BONES & BETRAYAL: SILENCE OF THE DEAD?
There's a lot to commend about this book, and very little to quibble with. There's some really subtle world-building at work here, including some nice references to Ewington's Hero Interviews, and this expands and adds depth to that world nicely. There are some wonderfully composed sentences in this book—they're just so efficient that they can deliver a paragraph's worth of meaning in them—moving the plot forward, or showing a character trait—while doing some effective world-building. Or a combination of the others. This happens often enough that I had to stop and admire them, because it's one thing to do that once or twice—but Marks and Ewington did it often enough that it had to be purposeful, and it's just so nice to see, particularly in Fantasy which has a tendency to take too long with this kind of thing.
This is a really good PI story, first and foremost. I think it takes Holtar a little too long to figure out what's motivating the killer—I talked back a lot to the book on these lines. I don't know if it'd have hurt things for him to suss that out as quickly as he should've. But the rest of the mystery elements are so well done that I can shrug that off (mostly). There’s some good comedy going on, but it’s not the focus–it’s a function of how Holtar’s mind works and the way he and Seymour relate. So, yeah, it’s funny–but it’s not a goofy mystery. It fits along Duncan MacMaster, Gregory Mcdonald, Lee Goldberg, and Marshall Karp’s early works. Which means it’s just what I want a steady diet of.
Then you get the whole Fantasy world of it all–so there’s the D&D-ness of The Hero Interviews. But also the Fantasy+mystery novel of Alex Bledsoe, Luke Arnold, and Keith DeCandido’s Precinct novels. Also, the tone of The Chronicles of Pell (that's the closest match I can think of right now).
I really want to spend more time with Seymour and Holtar, for the sheer entertainment of the banter alone. But I also like seeing their partnership at work, and a solid buddy-dynamic like theirs should be celebrated as often as possible. I’d like to see something develop between the flirtation between Holtar and [name withheld] (although I'm not certain the attraction is two-way, but dealt with correctly, that could be funny). I could enjoy seeing Holtar butt heads with Moorland more, or Moorland being replaced by someone, too–really not sure I care. And, I’m super curious about the events that the ending sets up for Book Two.
This novel delivers the perfect amount of bang for your entertainment buck. It is a satisfying combination of mystery, tension, magic, and stupid jokes and puns. The friendship that forms the heart of this book will endear you to the protagonists as much as their banter will make you grin. Setting the whole thing in a Fantasy world that will be instantly recognizable to anyone who reads the genre or has played D&D, just makes the whole thing even more satisfying. I had a blast with this–and I literally have a list of people I’ll be giving this to as a gift. I’m eagerly awaiting another two or three installments in this series already.
August 12, 2025
If you are looking for a fun good time this is the book for you. Holtar and Seymour are the dynamic duo you never knew you needed in your life. Who doesn’t love a necromancer detective and talking skull. I found myself laughing out loud at the banter between these two. Seymour is definitely my favorite character of the year. He has so many layers that you learn about throughout the story. I can’t wait for the next book of the series to come out. Book definitely makes me take a closer look before I take a bite of my pie.
August 31, 2025
Fun fantasy whodunnit featuring talking-skull-extraordinnaire Seymour...
... and Holtar, necromancer, dark elf, and Seymour's partner in crime-solving, of course. But I've had a soft spot for Seymour since meeting him for the first time in Andi Ewington's The Hero Interviews, so I'm chuffed to bits that he and Holtar are getting their own series. Yay!
The story is set in a world that makes heavy use of (and pokes fun) at fantasy and D&D tropes, and while it adds another layer of familiarity (and a couple of easter eggs) if you have read The Hero Interviews, it can absolutely be read as a standalone.
I found the mystery engaging and there were enough clues (and a couple of red herrings) thrown in to keep me turning the pages (often way past my bedtime).
More, please?
... and Holtar, necromancer, dark elf, and Seymour's partner in crime-solving, of course. But I've had a soft spot for Seymour since meeting him for the first time in Andi Ewington's The Hero Interviews, so I'm chuffed to bits that he and Holtar are getting their own series. Yay!
The story is set in a world that makes heavy use of (and pokes fun) at fantasy and D&D tropes, and while it adds another layer of familiarity (and a couple of easter eggs) if you have read The Hero Interviews, it can absolutely be read as a standalone.
I found the mystery engaging and there were enough clues (and a couple of red herrings) thrown in to keep me turning the pages (often way past my bedtime).
More, please?
July 28, 2025
Follow Holtar, a sleuthing necromancer and his partner Seymour, an animated skull of a former member of the Thieves Guild as they attempt to solve a murder for the city guard. Usually, Holtar can reanimate the victims and ask them directly who murdered them but in this case not only has the person been killed but their soul has also been taken.
This is a quirky and fun murder myself that is full of twists and turns. It is set in a D&D style world that is sure to please fans of high fantasy.
This is a quirky and fun murder myself that is full of twists and turns. It is set in a D&D style world that is sure to please fans of high fantasy.
August 17, 2025
A solid fantasy mystery. A well structured initial entry in what I hope will be a long series of books.
August 6, 2025
A great fun fantasy murder mystery, loved the world building, humorous touches, and call backs to the hero interviews.
September 7, 2025
😂 I loved the banter in this book most of all. It is a very unusual relationship between the MMC Holtar who is a necromansor (he can talk to the dead) and his sidekick, Seymour who is a skull. Yup just a skull. Seems Seymour was his companion, his friend who would join Holtar on his quests. One such quest went horribly wrong and a dragon they thought was dead, was not. The dragon swallowed Seymour and spit out the skull. A skull that was still alive that could speak, move around a room, eat and drink alcohol. Actually Seymour kept getting Holtar in trouble because he kept stealing food and ale every chance he got. Did I mention Seymour was also a thief when he was alive because at every opportunity Seymour will steal anything that isn’t well hidden.
👮 Captain Moorland seeks Holtar help. There is a 💀 and it’s the Captain’s job if he doesn’t find the culprit. Well it’s not just 1 💀, they keep piling up. All meeting their end in the same way. Try as he might the necromancer cannot seem to solve the case.
⭐️ This is a 5 star read from beginning to absolute shocker at the end when you find out who it is. I am looking forward to reading more books from Erica Marks and Andi Ewington. Perfection!
👮 Captain Moorland seeks Holtar help. There is a 💀 and it’s the Captain’s job if he doesn’t find the culprit. Well it’s not just 1 💀, they keep piling up. All meeting their end in the same way. Try as he might the necromancer cannot seem to solve the case.
⭐️ This is a 5 star read from beginning to absolute shocker at the end when you find out who it is. I am looking forward to reading more books from Erica Marks and Andi Ewington. Perfection!
November 25, 2025
I liked the story, the characters were fun and the pacing was excellent. but I struggled with some of the overwrought writing. I know it's the style, but I couldn't get on with some of it. The tone was a it 'off' in places - trying for comic and missing by a hairs breadth.
August 22, 2025
Fun but ultimately doesn’t quite make the landing in its approach - decent jokes and characters but I’d had liked a bit more depth and world/character building
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