Description:

Death is no stranger in the city of Erisín-- but some deaths attract more attention than others.

When a prostitute dies carrying a royal signet, Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and agent of the Crown, is called to investigate. Her search leads to desecrated tombs below the palace, and the lightless vaults of the vampiric vrykoloi deep beneath the city. But worse things than vampires are plotting in Erisín...

As a sorcerous plague sweeps the city and demons stalk the streets, Isyllt must decide who she's prepared to betray, before the city built on bones falls into blood and fire.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In a spectacular freestanding sequel to 2009's The Drowning City, Downum jumps a few years forward to find forensic necromancer Isyllt Iskaldur investigating the death of Forsythia, a young prostitute with stolen royal jewelry sewn into her clothes, in the haunted city of Erisin. As Isyllt follows the trail of death and theft to the sewers and their vampiric inhabitants, Savedra Severos, the crown prince's beautiful transgender mistress, struggles to defeat assassins and unravel plots involving her own uncle and a demonic sorceress mysteriously allied with Isyllt's mentor and former lover, the spymaster Kiril. Finely drawn characters love and betray with enthralling passion and pain, and the taverns and gardens of plague-ridden Erisin and the titular ruined palace at its center make a dark and richly detailed background for this complex and bloody tale of sorcery, madness, and intrigue. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Starred Review Several years have passed since the events chronicled in Drowning City (2009), the first volume in Downum’s Necromancer Chronicles. Issylt is now at home in Erisin and working as a King’s Investigator, though her necromancy skills mean she takes on the toughest cases—like finding the prostitute found dead clutching jewelry that was buried with the queen. Fortunately the king is on a campaign as he hasn’t been all too rational since the queen died three years past, leaving Issylt a few weeks to uncover the tomb raiders, solve the dead girl’s murder, and deal with the entrenched and complex aristocracy jockeying for power. As Issylt digs deep into the history of the palace, of several prominent families, and of the city itself, she uncovers matters everyone else would prefer she leave alone. Downum’s second fantasy is as sharp and complex as the first, full of fascinating characters, from the transvestite mistress of the prince to his warrior wife. As the setting and many of the characters are new to the series, Bone Palace works fine as a good starting point for new readers. Suggest to fans of the equally dark and imaginative Nights of Villjamur (2010). --Jessica Moyer