The Tainted Cup gets the fantasy detective novel exactly right
Robert Jackson Bennett pairs altered assistant Din Kol with investigator Ana Dolabra to solve murders in an empire menaced by sea-born Titans.
Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup delivers everything I want from a fantasy detective story. Wonderful characters, fantastic world-building, and a mystery worth solving.
Bennett tells the story from the point of view of Din Kol, an altered human whose misshapen talents left him useless to most regular sources of employment for altered humans in the Empire. Ana Dolabra, a very special investigator who serves the Emperor's justice, however, needed an assistant, and Kol thinks he conned his way into the job.
From petty thievery to political intrigue, Kol learns there are things far more dangerous to the Empire than giant shambling society-destroying Titans who lumber out of the sea.
The following books are also very good.