Cocktails & Chloroform

Armstrong’s enchanting third A Rip Through Time fantasy (after The Poisoner’s Ring) offers an exciting escape into Victorian Edinburgh that answers the question: what if a renegade detective wore crinolines? A standalone adventure set between the events of books one and two, the novella finds Mallory Atkinson, a 21st-century homicide detective, stuck in someone else’s body—and time period. “Three months ago,” she pithily explains, “I was attacked in an Edinburgh alley at the same time as Catriona Mitchell had been, exactly a hundred and fifty years earlier. The result? A body swap across time.” Exposition dispatched, the story encompasses the adventures of just one night, involving a courageous 12-year-old, a trip into the notoriously dangerous Old Town, and a sex trafficking scheme. It’s nonstop action, which in such a short space never becomes too much: rather, it’s a refreshingly spirited break from real life. First-time readers will have no problem jumping in while Armstrong devotees will find exactly the magic and excitement they expect. This does not disappoint. (Dec.)