The Undermining of Twyla and Frank and its predecessor, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, definitely stand out as unique fantasy romance. When I think of that genre, I usually think of medieval-type settings, characters, magic – Lord of the Rings or the Wheel of Time series, for example. Well, this series has nothing in common with those types of stories. It’s definitely not medieval in nature, though in this book, we do get dragons. It has its own very different worldbuilding, gods, and lands, and on Amazon, it’s categorised as Humorous Fantasy. Okay, I’d agree with that. Whatever it is, it’s memorable and that’s what you need to stand out in a crowd.

Living in the town of Eternity, Twyla Banneker has been neighbors with Frank Ellis for years, and for the past eight, his work partner as well. Widowed with grown children and small grandchildren, she’s found a second life as a Tanrian marshal, though since the drudges that terrorized Tanria are no longer a threat (see The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy for that storyline), life has been a lot less dangerous. Except that one of their marshals has been found dead, and figuring out who killed him and why, looks to be the next task for her and Frank.

As for Frank, he’s divorced with grown daughters, and is quite happy with his work and his friendship with Twyla. In their investigation of the murder of their comrade, they come across a mother dragon and her baby, the latter imprinting on Frank, which results in him becoming a foster parent to the baby when the mother takes off. All are shocked at the appearance of dragons, thought to be either mythical or at the very least, long dead. When a dracologist comes to investigate and expresses a romantic interest in Twyla, Frank and Twyla discover that perhaps their friendship isn’t all that’s been keeping them together. Is a friends-to-lovers romance in the future for our intrepid duo?

Apparently, this story has been billed as having a When Harry Met Sally theme but since I haven’t seen the movie, it has no bearing on my opinion. (I know the first in the series was reminiscent of You’ve Got Mail, yet another movie I haven’t seen so again, didn’t influence my enjoyment of that one either). The story is told entirely from Twyla’s point of view, and while I did miss hearing from Frank directly, there’s enough detail that you feel like you get to know him, too. I liked seeing Twyla get her bearings as a woman fully capable of pursuing life after widowhood, and not just as a wife or mother or grandmother. It’s not until Twyla has a date with the dracologist and sees Frank’s reaction to that, that things start to pick up for them romantically. But it’s still hard for them to switch from the friendship they’ve had for so long to a more intimate relationship, both being worried about the cost to their friendship if things don’t go well.

As for the murder mystery, it’s slow going. The pace of this one drags a bit compared to the first in the series. But I liked the worldbuilding, especially the religion and its influence on the townsfolk. I was definitely surprised at the ultimate reveal of who the bad guy is and why (although the why is rather silly) but the dragons make up for that, especially Frank’s baby dragon. We get some cameos from Mercy and Hart from the first book, and I understand there’s going to be a third story so I’m definitely not done with this series. It’s a solid B read for me.