The Wisdom of Dead Men

Gr 9 Up—In Ancient Appetites (Open Road, 2015), the European world is ruled by the Wildensterns, a ruthless family of seemingly invincible assassins. In that entry, Nate returns to his family from a hunting trip in Africa only to discover his older brother, Marcus, has been murdered and the family claims Nate is the culprit. Can he prove his innocence? This installment picks up with the new Wildenstern heir, Berto, wanting to change the barbaric nature of his family's past. Nate, now the disabled Berto's bodyguard, joins with Daisy, Berto's wife, to investigate a number of mysterious deaths that result in the burned bodies of women. What they end up finding are more intriguing family secrets and a possible tie to the enigmals, machines with the brains of living animals. Give this Victorian series, originally published in the United Kingdom, to teens looking for a new unique steampunk angle (a Dublin setting instead of London) with a hint of horror à la H.G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau.