These books were published almost 20 years ago, back in the big TSR days of tie-in novels to the D&D game system. These sorts of books launched the careers of several well-known fantasy authors today, including RA Salvatore, Troy Denning, and Elaine Cunningham, the author of this book. The story surrounds Arilyn Moonblade, a half-elf "assassin" who works as a Harper agent. She is suspected of assassinating several members of the Harper association, mostly because of her proximity to all of their murders. She is accompanied by a fledgling-wizard and bard named Danilo Thann who plays the part of a dandy but in reality is an accomplished mage and is trying to determine Arilyn's guilt or innocence. What follows is largely a mystery story interspersed with dangerous moments and good action sequences. There are lots of characters introduced as the pair makes their journey in and around Waterdeep, but you don't have to be a "Forgotten Realms" aficionado to understand what's going on. And if you’ve ever played the computer game, “Baldur’s Gate”, you’ll really appreciate the area. The plot is pretty well thought out and definitely kept my attention. It's really hard to believe that this is the author's first novel. She has acknowledged mistakes with it but I can't point to any myself and she has gone on to write a couple of sequels. I will definitely read them because I really like these characters.
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