2021 short story, fantasy in the Cemeteries of Amalo series, set
before The Witness for the Dead. Thara Celehar is contacted by a
woman who's lost her business partner, but inherited the baby…
There are few surprises here: it's a good prequel, showing how
the business of witnessing works in a relatively uncomplicated
situation. A specific piece of information is needed (the identity of
the baby's father), and retrieved; with a little negotiation, that
resolves the pressing need, but there's still some emotional closure
to be arranged.
This doesn't appear to have been published except as a pre-order bonus
for The Witness for the Dead, and I think that's a shame; I always
like to see what a routine job looks like, before the job that goes
sideways to make the main plot of a book, and this does a jolly good
job of that.
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