Overview

Returning to a magic-shadowed Edinburgh, The Legacy of Arniston House sends Ropa Moyo into a tangle of old stones and older grudges. A grand estate with a troubling past becomes the crossroads for secrets that won’t stay buried—testing Ropa’s instincts, loyalties, and hard-won rules about who deserves the truth.

Voice & Atmosphere

The trademark voice is intact: quick, funny, and edged with melancholy. Streetwise patter meets candlelit halls, and the city’s familiar grit rubs against the aristocratic chill of an estate where history smells of wax and smoke. Chapters clip along with crisp scene turns and just enough lore to keep the world feeling deep.

Characters

Ropa remains a terrific lead—resourceful, stubborn, and protective of her found family. Friends and frenemies return with new angles, while fresh faces at Arniston complicate the game: heirs with agendas, scholars with blind spots, and believers who’ve mistaken power for purpose. Even antagonists get human seams, which keeps the stakes personal.

Themes

Knowledge versus control, inheritance versus choice. The novel worries at how institutions hoard stories—what gets kept in libraries, what gets hidden in attics—and who pays the price. It’s also about family, both chosen and blood, and the cost of confronting the past without letting it define the future.

What Worked

• Voice-forward narration: witty, grounded, and emotionally sharp.
• Strong sense of place: Edinburgh grit meets country-house unease.
• Propulsive structure: short chapters and timely reveals keep pages turning.

Minor Quibbles

• One late reveal tidies up swiftly after such rich foreboding—satisfying, if a touch neat.
• Readers craving deep-dives into arcane mechanics may want a few more pages of systems detail.

Final Thoughts

Smart, pacy, and atmospheric, The Legacy of Arniston House blends city grit with stately-house dread—another engaging turn for a heroine who keeps finding trouble where secrets are filed.

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)