Hard in Hightown (book)

"Twenty years of patrols have chiseled each and every stone of the Kirkwall streets into city guardsman Donnen Brennokovic. Weary and weathered, Donnen is paired with a recruit so green he might as well have leaves growing out of his armor. When the unlikely duo discovers a dead magistrate bleeding out on the flagstones, they're caught up in a clash between a shadowy organization known only as the Executors and a secretive group of Chantry agents-all over some ancient artifact."

Hard in Hightown is a novel written by Varric Tethras and Mary Kirby and published July 31, 2018 by Tor Books.

The novella is a publication of Varric Tethras's noir detective story told in the eighteen codicies starting with Codex entry: Hard in Hightown: Chapter One. It includes cover art and 24 interior illustrations captioned by a quote from the story. It does not include Codex entry: Hard in Hightown: Chapter ???. The events of the book are set entirely in Kirkwall during the same period as the events of Dragon Age II, roughly 9:30-40 Dragon. The story is a homage satire of classic film noir tropes such as the Private Detective and the action film standard Cowboy Cop.

In the book, the speech patterns of some of the characters appear to mimic Dragon Age II companions, for example Belladonna uses the "sweet thing" phrase that Isabela used, Hendallen uses Avaline's short, gruff sentences and Maysie sounds considerably like Merrill.

Characters

 * Captain Belladonna - Captain of the Dragon's Jewels
 * Captain Hendallen - Captain of the Kirkwall guard
 * Donnen Brennokovic - An experienced guardsman nearing retirement
 * Jevlan - A new recruit to the guard
 * Lady Marielle - The wife of Magistrate Dunwald
 * Maysie - An elf living in the Kirkwall Alienage
 * Seamus Dunwald - A dead magistrate
 * Wagner - A Starkhaven buyer of antiquities

Trivia

 * In Chapter Nine, Varric describes Belladonna's feelings for the Dragon's Jewels as "She liked big boats." which is a reference to the first line of Baby Got Back