A Labyrinth of Honeybees (Magic & Mystery, #4) by Heather Fawcett Narrator: Esther Wane
Format: audiobook, ebook
Source: borrowed from Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Formats available: ebook, audiobook
Genres: fantasy, fantasy mystery
Series: Magic & Mystery #4
Pages: 44
Length: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Published by Amazon Original Stories on July 28, 2026
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon
Goodreads
New rulers meddle with the whims of the old gods in a lush and twisty short story of devotion, intrigue, and murder by the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.
At a remote mountain temple, an inquisitor arrives to question a priestess about a pair of murders. The keeper of the sacred garden, its bees, and its ever-changing hedge maze does have her secrets. But what will protecting them cost her as she uncovers layers of conspiracy on both sides?
Heather Fawcett’s A Labyrinth of Honeybees is part of the Magic & Mystery collection, puzzle-box mysteries from top fantasy authors. They can be read or listened to in one enchanting sitting.
My Review:
A Labyrinth of Honeybees reads, and listens, like one of the stories that Cleric Chih records in the Singing Hills Cycle. By that, I mean it reads like a bit of myth, a story that feels like we should be familiar with, but we aren’t because it’s a fictional myth in a fictional world and not our own. But it still reads like it should be a story out of legend.
So this isn’t our world and these definitely aren’t our gods or even gods in our ancient mythologies, but the story plucks at the same set of heartstrings. None of which is a surprise as this entry in the Magic & Mystery collection was written by the author of the Emily Wilde series, and those kinds of universal myths and legends are just the sort of thing that Emily Wilde is looking for.
At the same time, it’s a story about human behavior and godly caprice, and those parts ring true in all of their messy, chaotic glory.
From one perspective, it’s a story about conquest and erasure, wrapped inside a murder investigation.
The priestess of sacred grove is, quite rightly, concerned about the royal inquisitor’s arrival at her tiny, secluded sanctuary. And not just because he’s surrounded by the ghosts of the people he’s “inquisited” to death, and they rather constitute a throng that he can’t see, but she absolutely can.
Ostensibly, he’s there to investigate the deaths of two of his King’s tax collectors. His real mission is to search for the King’s heir, who is missing. Underneath all of that, the King is looking for an excuse to burn the sanctuary, as the conquerors’ religion is not merely monotheistic but is intolerant of all others. But the conquest is recent, the old gods are popular – and populous, there are 83 (or possibly 84) of them! – and the old religion is still deeply rooted among the people where the new regime is hated and feared.
A justification for burning the sacred grove is required, and the King expects his inquisitor to find it. Not create it, because the King’s faith requires justification for all of his murderous deeds. And his inquisitor is a devoted adherent of that faith. But as the saying goes, “man plans, God laughs” which is especially true when there are 83 – or 84 – gods and two of them have conspired in a very specific plan – for the inquisitor.
Escape Rating A: I both read and listened to this one. I listened to it first, and enjoyed the narration by Esther Wane. She did a terrific job of voicing the characters and was an excellent fit for the voice of the priestess who is telling us this story from inside her own head. Which is also a terrific place to be, as she’s mature, a bit world-weary, has run out of fucks to give over the pecadillos of human – and even godly – behavior, but still cares deeply for her people and her goddess even though she’s more than a bit fed up with the trappings of religion.
AND she’s good at keeping her secrets and most of her thoughts behind her teeth, and not showing the fear she absolutely does feel but knows better than to express.
But, as I said earlier, the way this story works feels like the tales that Cleric Chih records, and sometimes tells in Nghi Vo’s Singing Hills Cycle. But that’s a feeling, so if you like the way those stories work you’ll probably enjoy A Labyrinth of Honeybees. But if you’re looking for something that reads like this story, then definitely check out Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric and Desdemona series, because the way that Penric’s god interferes in his life and inserts chaos into it at every turn are very similar to the mess that the the priestess’ goddess drops into her lap in this story.
I listened to this one, then read the text, because as much as I enjoyed the listening experience – and I did – I started after midnight. The ways this story works are a bit subtle, and a lot of things are implied or hinted at that the reader doesn’t catch until the end. I wanted to make sure I got it all, and had a chance to think about what I got, as this is one of those stories that reads a bit differently once you have all the pieces.
Also, on the first go around I concentrated on the “top” story, about the inquisitor investigating the murders and the interactions between the inquisitor and the priestess. On the second time through the undertones and half-said bits about the new king and the new religion and the problems of conquest and the tensions of repression and cultural erasure peek through the screen of the mystery investigation. Which is exactly right, as both the inquisitor AND the priestess KNOW the investigation is a smokescreen for the real threat from the king, as well as his somewhat exaggerated and at least partly imaginary fears about the power of the old gods.
It was every bit as good a reading experience as it was a listening experience, but I did pick up more nuance on that second time around. So I’m glad I did it, because there’s a LOT packed into this seemingly small story.
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