Black Wolves by Kate Elliott

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I love seeing the words "First in a New Series" on books, don't you?

After having been disgraced by the murder of his king, Captain Kellas of the Black Wolves has accepted retirement, content to live with his beautiful wife and raise his grandchildren. Then reeve Marshal Dannarah, sister to the king, comes to him with a secret mission. She believes there is a plot to kill her nephew, the current King Jehosh. Meanwhile, Sarai, an outcast among her people, offers herself in marriage sight unseen to an outsider of her clan, unknowingly involving herself in the politics of two rival queens. The lives and paths of disparate individuals will cross and knot in unexpected ways as plot and counterplot play out.

This is actually a follow-on series to Kate Elliott's Crossroads trilogy. As I was reading this, I kept having those moments where I remembered this character or another from the first trilogy. I wish I had gone back and re-read the Crossroads, just to get the nuances (and because they are excellent books) back but when I searched my shelves for them, they weren't there. Apparently, they were part of The Lost Shipment of stuff that didn't make it when I moved either from California to Georgia or from Georgia to Virginia. So I have to buy them again but I'm not even mad. They're worth it. And now I know I have two more books in this new series to look forward to.

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