In P. Djèlí Clark's intrigue-laden fantasy novella The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, an undead assassin receives a mission she can't carry out, but which her deadly serious oath won't allow her to abandon.
Eveen is a member of an assassins guild in the city of Tal Abisi. Before her death, she swore to serve Aeril, the matron goddess of assassins, and, once resurrected, she began her century of indenture, bound by three rules. The contract must be just, as determined by the guild. The assassin must kill only the contracted victim. And an accepted job must be carried out. But Eveen is assigned an anonymously commissioned contract with an urgent deadline of dawn the very next morning, only to discover that the intended victim appears to be her own younger self, from the living days she no longer remembers. Faced with the wrath of her own organization, not to mention her goddess, Eveen must uncover who wants her to assassinate herself and find a way to void the contract lest a paradox cause her to blink out of existence.
This novella makes every page count, with backstabbing and actual stabbing to spare. Clark (A Master of Djinn; Ring Shout) fills the book with razor-sharp dialogue as well as weapons. He paints a dynamic picture of a bustling fantasy city and the gods and goddesses who control it. Though this novella is satisfying on its own, readers would likely be thrilled if Clark were to revisit this world and these prickly but endearing characters. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library