With even more clever quips, narrow escapes, and noble gestures, author John Spearman continues Caz’s wild adventures in FitzDuncan’s Fortune, the fourth volume of this eccentrically entertaining series.
Fresh off an adventure that elevated his abilities and standing with the crown, Caz embarks on a quick task to outwit a blackmailer and restore the tainted honor of an old friend’s mother. The heart of this plot, however, involves the same assassin who Caz had recently captured, only to discover that his stepmother was the one offering the blood money. Trading his life for service to the crown, this skilled killer is sent on a royal mission, but he requires an assistant who can act as a noble, but still hold his own in a fight.
No matter what scrapes or impossible choices he lands in, he always takes the time to show his love and adoration for his love, Lady Lucy, debating over gifts and ways to surprise her. Despite the proximity to his inevitable nuptials, Caz agrees to go undercover as Lord Compote and accompany his old would-be murderer. Between fancy meals, sword fights, throat slitting, and wild scheming, Caz manages to learn more about his newfound powers, and his deeper connection with Bellona.
With his unique combination of intelligence and bravado, the titular protagonist is always fun to read on the page. Caz’s code of conduct is perennially curious in a swashbuckling knight-in-shining-armor kind of way, where bashing a blackmailer over the head and stealing his gold is fine, but outright theft from someone who hasn’t broken the law makes him blanch. This honorable hero and his equally powerful partner are both wholesome and adventurous, as they balance on the edge of sex appeal and childlike adoration for one another. What Spearman has always done well is pose ethical and moral quandaries, both small and large, which allows readers to step into the shoes of various characters and weigh their own notions of honor.
As has been true in the other books, the dialogue and narration can be blunt, or unnecessarily explicit, leaving too little to the reader’s imagination, effectively diminishing a scene’s authenticity. There is also a good deal of exposition at the start of the novel, briefly summarizing previous adventures, and explaining the connections to characters in the current book, i.e., Tom, Lucy, Queen Liliana, and Fenwick. This recap writing is something the author has done before, but in future books, a quick review of earlier tales and a character list might feel less heavy-handed if it precedes the narrative itself.
Mostly, Spearman demonstrates his saucy mastery of language, landing subtle jokes and jabs, euphemistically explaining a romantic encounter, or casually depicting Caz’s roguish life of leisure. This imbalance in the prose could be evened out overall, but there are very few moments of genuinely writing that take one out of the story.
All told, FitzDuncan’s Fortune is a strong installment that builds effectively on previous books in the series. Reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Arsene Lupin, sometimes even within the same paragraph, FitzDuncan remains a charming hero to carry this series even further.
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