Jacey Bedford's Journal

Nell Young is called to the New York Public Library (map section) where her estranged father has been found dead at his desk. Natural causes, apparently, or could it be something else? Since Nell has never forgiven her father for getting her sacked from the NYPL over a worthless 'glove-box' road map she has mixed feelings, but gradually small things begin to add up and Nell is drawn into what appears to be a conspiracy of silence about this road map involving a shady group called the Cartographers, and powerful secrets. I love maps, so I picked this one out to review, but the pacing was a bit off, which made it a slow read. The magic, when it came, was fascinating, but it was a long time coming, so the first part of this read like a straightforward murder mystery. Maybe the clues were too subtle for me.

A lot of the story - long sections of it - is told to Nell by friends and colleagues of her parents, so there's a lot - a lot - of exposition. Nell's part in all this is to find the people (her parents' university cohort) who will relate what happened 20+ years ago as they found the magic in the map. Sadly, the magic itself, though a great premise, is not really explained.