★Clark, P. Djèlí. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins. Tor.com. Apr. 2024. 224p. ISBN 9781250767042. $20.99. FANTASY

They’re not cats and don’t have tails, but the Dead Cat Tail Assassins are indeed dead. Their sworn duty to their goddess is to put their contracted victims into that same condition—or spend eternity under torture. But someone has a grudge against Eveen the Eviscerator and personally commissions her for a contract that she won’t be able to fulfill. That this unknown manipulator has bent, if not broken, all the rules between the gods, their sworn avatars, and the multiverse in which they all live is just one piece of a huge puzzle that Eveen has only until morning to solve. But she’s the best at what she does, and she’ll have assistance from the one person who can help her the most—her once and possibly future self. VERDICT This wildly surprising caper fantasy from Clark (A Master of Djinn) will keep readers on the edge of their seats working out who “dunit,” and how and why, as they explore the gritty underbelly of this world of living contracts, dead gods, and legal necromancy, reminiscent of Max Gladstone’s “Craft Sequence” and “Craft Wars” series. This will appeal to all lovers of urban fantasy.