Read this. (Also linked too off my writing advice page, the blog is Nathan Bransford’s.)
The Ragpicker King is the sequel to Sword Catcher. In it, Kel — now fully embedded with the Ragpicker King and his crew — tries to solve a mystery: Who’s responsible for the murders in the Shining Gallery? If someone’s plotting against Castellane, who is it? And why is the woman he’s loved since he was a child, Antonetta Alleyne, determined to marry a monster?