Rain pours down and waters rise as a group of travelers, trapped by the weather in an inn above the river Skidwrack, tell stories. Twelve guests plus innkeeper, maid, and neighbor Phineas Amalgam (compiler of these tales, according to the title page) make up the company of 15, including one child, Maisie, who is traveling alone. The stories, part morality tales and part facets of a drawing-room mystery, suggest a hidden conversation among the assembly: supplicating, surmising, interpreting, warning. Each guest is matched with an activity: dancing, building with cards, whittling, offering cigars, binding papers into books. Milford's rich, complex language hints of magic and connection, of interwoven fates and tragedies. The stories celebrate patterns, numbers, marvelous inventions, puzzles, and possibilities. Several stories of peddlers, choices, crossroads, and arcane clockwork devices point to the mystery, and maps, keys, and music figure prominently. Madame Grisaille, Maisie, Petra, and Gregory Sangwin have darker skin while others are assumed White or, in the cases of the beautiful young man Sullivan and the tattooed brothers Negret and Reever, possibly other than human. The inn is full of its own secrets. Its rooms and layout will feel familiar to Greenglass House fans, but it's set earlier in time, with a steampunk focus on cartography, gearwork, and combustion. At times wryly humorous and at others marvelously unnerving and superbly menacing, this novel delights. Deliciously immersive and captivating. (Mystery. 9-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

As rain and the Skidwrack River's rising make "new rivers that had once been roads," 15 stranded individuals alternately spin stories in this deliciously folkloric, carefully plotted compilation that has roots in--and similarities to--Milford's Greenglass House. Interspersed with interludes in the Blue Vein Tavern and bearing repeating references and themes, the individual stories focus on "peddlers, tricksters, gamblers, and lovers"; keys, maps, and portals; and roads of ice and of old. In the moments between the tellings, the inclusive array of worldly and otherworldly guests--brothers with facial tattoos, a shawl-swathed woman, a child traveling solo--and the tavern's staff rotate across a great room's stage, manipulating physical objects (cards, an hourglass, whittled animals, music boxes) and engaging in continual patterns of movement (bookbinding, dancing, firekeeping). At once a deeply satisfying standalone and a smart addition to Milford's expansive world, this elegant feat of telescopic storytelling serves as both map and key, offering singular stories of consequence that slowly, artfully reveal an immersive mystery--one that will dazzle seasoned Milford fans and kindle new ones. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8--12. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (Feb.)

The wide-reaching world building of Milford's Nagspeake novels gets even more expansive in her latest. Fans of Greenglass House (2014) might recognize the title; it's the book of folktales about Nagspeake that Milo reads, and the stories within bolster just about every other book set in the world, with familiar characters, objects, and places periodically appearing. Beyond that, though, the stories are purely enjoyable, playfully toying with folktale conventions, offering a compelling variety of genres, and allowing each teller's voice to clearly come through in their tale. Some are eerie, like "The Hollow-Ware Man," which tells of someone making a desperate bargain, or "The Game of Maps," about a house with violent tendencies. Others are sweet, like "The Ferryman," featuring a boy who desperately loves riddles, or "The Coldway," about a seemingly doomed romance. As the stories go on, touchpoints emerge that gradually shape into revealing truths about the travelers. Though the importance of those truths might be lost on readers unfamiliar with Milford's other novels, the marvelous descriptions, delicious tension, and palpable atmosphere are plenty appealing on their own.