Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: Noir

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Wednesday, March 18, 2020

The Long Chain (Arcane Casebook #3) ★★★★☆

Title: The Long Chain
Series: Arcane Casebook #3
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 343
Words: 111K

Synopsis:

From Danwillisauthor.com & Me

In a city the size of New York, things go missing all the time. When a Nobel-Prize winning Chemist vanishes without a trace, his granddaughter taps Alex to find him. Locating people is easy for someone with the best finding rune in the city, but when Alex tracks down the missing man, he has no memory of who he is or what happened to him, and his research is gone.

Convinced that something sinister is afoot, Alex sets out to uncover the truth. Before he can learn anything concrete, however, the city is shrouded in a dense fog and that brings New York’s resident sorceress, Sorsha Kincaid, to his door. She needs Alex’s finding rune in order to trace the source of the unnatural fog, and she has no patience for his other cases.

Alex also is hired by Dr Killian, the Alchemist giving him his reinvigorating potion, to find a missing friend of hers. He gladly accepts, as this will give him more reason to be around Dr Killian's apprentice Jessica.

Turns out the Chemist is secretly working for the Navy creating a magic fog machine. Only problem is, the compounds he uses are unstable and go up in flames eventually. With the fog covering all of Manhattan, the potential is the fire bombing of the entire city. Alex also uncovers that there is a spy in the Navy trying to sell the fog machine to the Chinese. Alex and Sorsha track down the spy, recover the Chemist's notebook, which allows the Chemist to shut his machine down without firing New York.

Alex finds the missing Alchemist but along the way discovers some disturbing things about Dr Killian, Jessica and a young girl who appears to be an insane murderer. Dr Killian's daughter has polio and the cure is in Dr Killians' blood. She gives 2 vials for safekeeping to Alex, as it turns out she has been taking a lethal alchemical mixture over the years that allows her to grow younger for 12hrs. One of these younger versions is Jessica and the overdosed version is the insane killer. Dr Killian uses up her lifeforce to stop the megalomaniac who has kidnapped the Alchemist and her to free Alex so he can get the blood sample to the daughter.

The book ends with Alex meeting up with the man who was introduced as the Shadow Master in the previous book. The Shadow Master reveals that there is another World War coming and that he expects Alex to use the power of the Archimedean Monograph to prevent it. This Shadow Master gave Alex's mentor the Monograph so that he could stop the first World War but Iggy deemed the book too dangerous to use. Shadow Master warns Alex not to make the same mistake. He also gives Alex another year of life by infusing him with the lifeforce of 50 pigs and tells him to figure out how it was done so he can continue living. The point being that the Shadow Master has been around for a very long time.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed myself immensely with this book. I really suspected that things weren't going to work out between Alex and Jessica, but I totally didn't see it being because of the whole Jekyll/Hyde/MurderGirl thing. I found that to be very clever. Considering that Jessica IS Dr Killian and Dr Killian's daughter is probably a bit younger than Alex, it would not surprise me if she gets cured by the polio potion and becomes Alex's love interest. I'll just have to wait and see. Sorsha is too obvious a candidate.

I do have to admit that I was glad at the end of the book that Alex is shown that life extension runes are possible, as it was getting a little old throughout the book of him wondering when he was going to die. If it had been me writing though, I would have had him die soon after Dr Killian, lovers united in death and all that.

I've really been enjoying the “standalone” nature of each of these books. Several cases all tying into each other but completely wrapped up by books end. That formula starts to unravel with the ending of this book and the Shadow Master revealing himself and his plans to Alex. It has the potential to be a really good thing for the series but personally, I hope Willis stays to the Standalone side of things.

I have been enjoying this series this month and while I can't unreservedly recommend it, I do highly recommend it. I think the fact that I chose to break my reading rotation to chow down on these says more than anything I could actually write.

★★★★☆

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Ghost of a Chance (Arcane Casebook #2) ★★★★☆

Title: Ghost of a Chance
Series: Arcane Casebook #2
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 361
Words: 117K

Synopsis:

From Danwillisauthor.com & Me

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police

When a bizarre string of locked-room murders terrorize New York, the police reluctantly turn to their magical consultant, private detective Alex Lockerby, to catch a killer who can walk through walls. Dubbed the Ghost by the tabloids, Alex will need every rune in his book to solve the case with no suspects, no leads, and no time to spare.

Unfortunately Alex's magic hasn't been working very well of late. He can't even manage to track down several truckloads of stolen goods, including one belonging to New York's preeminent sorcerer, Andrew Barton. To make matters worse, Alex and his clients are being stalked by a shadowy cabal with strange powers that Alex has never seen before.

With the Ghost seemingly able to murder at will and the tabloids, the public, and Alex’s clients demanding results, Alex will need a miracle to keep himself, his clients, and his reputation alive.

Alex also has to deal with the effects of his Escape Rune from the previous book that has shaved an unknown number of years off of his lifespan. Iggy, his mentor, puts him in touch with an alchemist and Alex gets involved with her apprentice.

All of the cases are almost tied together, as the Ghost turns out to be a man killing the group of people who cheated him out of his land years ago, land which could have been sold to raise money to save his wife. Barton's missing motor is linked to a group that wants to steal a literal boatload of gold in a museum and the presence of Mayan Runes are revealed. The same shadowy Man of Mystery is the one supplying both groups with Mayan runes that allow them to do the extraordinary things they do.

Alex solves everything, gets a lot of money and publicity, thinks Jessica (the assistant alchemist) might be the One and both Alex and Iggy wonder who the Shadow Master is.

My Thoughts:

This was fun! I think what I liked the most was that the author makes what Alex does at the end of the first book (using the Escape Rune) really matter here. He's not just shrugging off a broken leg or something. He's lost years, possibly decades, of his life and it's showing. His hair is white, he doesn't have the energy and strength he used to, his hands shake (which for a rune wright is disastrous) and generally he's “old”.

Getting introduced to another Sorcerer was interesting and I'm glad we're not stuck on Sorsha. With him getting interested in Jessica though, we'll see what happens between him and Sorsha. Jessica seems a bit too absorbed in her work for something to work out long term with Alex. I just hope the author doesn't go into Triangle Territory. And honestly, deep characterization isn't his forte.

The multiple mysteries were just as fast and furious as in the first book. I'd prepared myself though, so it didn't overwhelm me. I still found myself wishing that one or more had been cut and a greater depth given to the remaining ones. That's not even really a complaint, just more of a “wish”.

I liked this even more than the first book and have the 3^rd and 4^th books already lined up. I'm really glad that Larry Correia recommended this author to his fans, as it has turned out to be a huge hit with me. It shouldn't have, as urban fantasy set in an alternate 1930's isn't my thing, but I guess just like the Grimnoir Chronicles, if it is done exactly right, it hits me like a ton of bricks. And I love every brick hitting me!

Finally, the covers. The author has some high res covers on his website and while I'm not using them for these reviews, I can already tell they are going to win all the Cover Love awards at the end of the month. I think the real decision will be whether I include them all or try to pick the best of the bunch. I've included a link to the high res cover. But come on, a rune infested shotgun, suspenders and a burning rune? And I wish my chin and hair looked like that. High Res Cover.

★★★★☆

In Plain Sight (Book 1)

Friday, March 06, 2020

In Plain Sight (Arcane Casebook #1) ★★★☆½

Title: In Plain Sight
Series: Arcane Casebook #1
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 301
Words: 90.3K

Synopsis:

Alex Lockerby is a Private Investigator in the 1930's, an alternate 1930's, where magic is real. Alex himself is a Runewright, someone capable of drawing runes and powering them. Alex was orphaned and brought up in a local church ministry and he still has strong ties to the priest that helped raise him. Alex also helps out the police as a consultant, when they're willing to pay.

The book opens with Alex declaring a dead body to be a murder and that the murderers can be caught at a highly secure facility in a day or two as they attempt to rob it. The next day Alex finds out the priest is dead along with everyone in the rectory. Some sort of magic plague was loosed and the police and the FBI want the perpetrators found before they loose the plague on a high profile case. Alex also takes on a case of a missing brother for an attractive brunette and finds out that the brother was researching new runes.

In a nutshell, Alex sleeps with the brunette, finds out she isn't the missing man's sister, tracks down the plague carriers and solves the case of the first murder victim. Everything ties together and comes together in big kablam'y fashion as German Agents are trying to kill some of New Yorks' finest wizards to start a war in the United States between magic users and non-magic users. He ends up using a rune to save the city from a (non)floating Wizard's Keep and possibly loses decades of his life. He also finds out that his mentor, a private detective who taught Alex everything he knows, has the forbidden book of magic that most new runes come from. Also turns out his mentor is Arthur Conan Doyle, who faked his death to throw those seeking out the forbidden tome off his trail.

Alex agrees to forget the tome of power and just be a magical PI.

My Thoughts:

For a book that is urban fantasy AND taking place in the 1920-1930's, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I was introduced to this book by a post from Larry Correia. He occasionally does a Book Bomb where he promotes a book of a friend or a new'ish author whose work he likes and encourages all his readers to go buy a kindle copy to push the stats of the book up and make the author more visible. He has done it enough that I guess it works. It worked for me and I managed to snag a copy for 99cents, so I'm not complaining. Especially when I had a digital coupon for 99cents!

As soon as the brunette showed up I knew Alex was going to sleep with her. It's what detective do I guess. Of course, him deducing that she wasn't a real brunette from that experience and that leading him to figure out she wasn't the missing man's sister had me rolling my eyes. Not to be crass, but just because your pubic hair doesn't match the color of your hair on your head doesn't mean you dye your hair. Sigh. Biology, people!

Other than that, this was a fun romp filled with mystery and adventure. Having 3 cases all at once was a bit much but it kept the book from ever bogging down, as any time Alex had downtime from one case he had to immediately continue working on the other two. While I wasn't exhausted by the end of the book, I “felt” tired :-)

How runes work isn't gone into in exhaustive detail. That might be off-putting for some people but for me it was perfect. I just want to know that something works, that there ARE rules and that the character can't break those rules without consequences. As long as the author doesn't have Alex pulling rabbits out of his butt to save the day, I'm ok with vague rules of magic. A bit of mystery is a good thing.

I enjoyed this book enough to seek out the next 3. I plan on binge reading them all this month, along with the Hall of Fame SF collections, just to break up my reading rotation. Planned shake ups are much better than suddenly going off the reservation and crashing and burning. Here's to hoping the next books are just as interesting.

★★★☆½

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Old Tin Sorrows (Garrett, PI #4) ★★★☆½

Title: Old Tin Sorrows
Series: Garrett, PI #4
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 252
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett is resting on his laurels. With enough money, why take on work and do more than you have to? Then his old army Sarge comes calling and Garrett makes the mistake of letting him in the door thinking it is a social visit. He is quickly disabused of that notion when his old Sarge hires him to find out who is trying to kill Sarge's employer, a retired general.

Garrett is ostensibly hired to find out if any of the General's staff are pilfering items and he is to use that as cover to find out who is slowly killing the General. Problem is, there is a very small pool of staff still around, as the General isn't well liked. Those still around are there because in the General's will he states that his estates will be divided half to his daughter and the rest divided up among the staff. Staff have been leaving for years though and Garrett suspects one of those who left has a grudge against the General.

Garrett also finds out the house is haunted by a ghost. A beautiful blond that no one seems to see or even know who she might be. Eventually Garrett rules out poison and calls in an exorcist for the General. But not before he has slept with the ghost (yeah, for real) AND the general's daughter. Turns out the ghost was the General's first wife who he had murdered and she's been haunting him. The disappearing staff members though are a different matter. They haven't been leaving, they've been murdered. By the daughter, who is a crazy psychopathic killer who wants to keep the failing estate all to herself.

Garrett reveals all, the ghost confronts her killer and crosses over and the daughter runs off a 4^th story balcony while trying to kill Garrett. Garrett goes home and finds solace in the arms of the young woman he met in the previous book.

My Thoughts:

You know, from that synopsis, I would never read this book or this series. A womanizing, alcoholic private eye who is lazy? No thank you. However, Cook got his literary claws into me with his Black Company books and I have to say, I am glad.

Once again, I really enjoyed this book. While a bit drearier and less humorous than the previous 3, and my eyes definitely rolled when Garrett had a roll in the sack with a ghost and the general's daughter, I just found myself WANTING to read more. I seriously considered just ignoring my own rules of rotation and reading the next Garrett book. Thankfully, I didn't give in to temptation. I'm not Garrett after all. I didn't really try to analyze the “why” of my enjoyment but now that this has happened for 4 books, I think during my read of the next book I'll be taking a look at myself while reading to see if I can nail down just what I actually enjoy.

Part of my enjoyment springs from the fact that while these are part of a “series”, each book has been a standalone story. Something I can sink my teeth into for a day or two and then just let go. Also, these are not taxing books. I'm not desperately trying to keep track of a whole host of characters nor a slew of plot lines. While Cook likes to throw in some misdirection here and there, we as readers are still just moving in a straight line from Beginning to End. I really appreciate that.

★★★☆½

All My "Garret, PI" Reviews

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Cold Copper Tears (Garrett, PI #3) ★★★☆½

Title: Cold Copper Tears
Series: Garrett, PI #3
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 249
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett is taking it easy, what with all the success from previous cases. However, a sultry blonde perks his interest, especially when it is obvious she is hiding the real reason for coming to him. Then the Grand High Inquisitor of the Church comes to Garrett, wanting to hire him. After accepting these two curious cases, Garrett is suddenly assaulted. For no reason that he can tell.

He gets some help from the major Crime Boss, who is then assaulted by a godlike being. Garrett, with some help from some potions from an earlier client, drives it off, thus continuing the debt of gratitude the Crime Boss owes him.

After lots of action, and a street girl suddenly becoming his understudy and claiming she's going to marry him, Garrett puts it all together. A long dead, malevolent loghyr, has been masquerading as a god of destruction so long that it has come into being. Garrett tracks down the loghyr, informs the Crime Boss, and let's nature take its course. A loghyr body might not decompose but it sure can be eaten by hungry rats!

Garrett is richer than ever. But now he has to figure out what do with the street girl and with Tinnie. Garrett isn't the marrying kind.

My Thoughts:

I had fun reading this. I didn't bother to try to figure out anything ahead of time. I just sat back, let Garrett get the crap beat out of him, watched him beat the crap out some others and generally had a fantastic old time.

The humor continues to work for me, Garrett hasn't annoyed me yet and his womanizing hasn't crossed the line yet either. I do have to say, that is what caused this book to stay at 3 1/2 stars instead of moving up to 4. Poor Garrett gets ambushed in his own bed by the street girl (well, she's 18...). I'm getting the feeling that Female X will show up for a book or three and then shove off. I was kind of hoping that Tinnie would move into friendship territory and become a regular part of the cast. Not looking too promising at the moment.

My other gripe is the tired old cliché about gods taking their power from their believers, etc, etc. This story is dealing with gods and churches and what not, so while I was kind of expecting it, it just really hit me wrong this time. As I was reading through I had ask myself what kind of person worships a god that they themselves have created? What's the point? Made me glad I'm a Christian who serves the One True God. He's said He's the only God. So either it is true and I'm all set, or it is a lie and I've got nothing to fear from a being that can lie about Reality itself. Despair, yes, but not Fear.

Cook writes well here and as long as he doesn't start recycling story lines (something I can see happening with 14'ish books in the series) I don't foresee any problems with continuing on until the end. Of course, the series did kind of peter out in '13, so I'm only getting closer and closer to landmine territory with each new book.

My goodness, for a book I thoroughly enjoyed, I certainly rained on it enough didn't I?

★★★☆½

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I. #2) ★★★☆½

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Title: Bitter Gold Hearts
Series: Garrett, P.I. #2
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett is paid to consult on a kidnapping case for one of the rich and powerful folks of town.Everything seems to be just fine until someone murders the girl who was the go between, who happens to be related to the kidnap victim. Then the heir, who was returned, supposedly kills himself. A wagonload of gold has also disappeared. Garrett is then hired by the remaining daughter to ostensibly find the gold but to also find out what is going on.

Garrett figures everything out but has to reveal it all to the Head of the Family who has just returned from the war. She's a Storm Lord of no small power and she ends up killing almost everyone involved to cover it all up so her “honor” won't be besmirched. Garrett realizes what is happening in the nick of time and wraps things up neatly and presents the “evidence” to the other Storm Lords. They strip her of her power and the daughter inherits.

And that wagonload of gold? It disappeared, just like the Steward, who hired Garrett to consult in the first place.

My Thoughts:

Garrett sleeps with a lot of women. First, there's the woman from the previous book, who is away for this one. Then there's the cousin who ends up murdered and is the cause of Garrett really staying involved in the whole thing. Then there's the daughter of the Storm Lord. Between all that wenching and the gallons of beer he consumes, I'm surprised Garrett hasn't died from either syphilis or his liver giving out.

Other than bit of moralizing, I had a blast reading this. Garrett and some shady characters invade a criminal troll stronghold and end up burning the place down. It was violence and action and comedy and humor all in one situation and I loved it. Garrett does a lot of skulking around and I could have done with a little less of that, but eh, he's a P.I., skulking is part of the job.

I really liked the ending, with the Storm Lord going full on murder spree and Garrett stopping her before she murders him and his friends too. I didn't see it coming, so when Cook sprang it on me, I was quite surprised, as it meant the book didn't end with a little “oh, I've solved things, lets go home now” from Garrett

I don't think that I could tell you that the guy who wrote this series is the same guy who wrote the Black Company books. It's not just the change in sub-genre (comedic detective fantasy versus dark fantasy) but so far, I've seen nothing related to or from the Black Company or the Dread Empire. Not a phrase, not a character type, not a situation. That is really good. After 10 books of the Black Company and almost as many with the Dread Empire, I like this change. I hope this tempo can be sustained for another 12 books.

I just realized that maybe I should be adding the mystery tag, as Garrett is private detective after all. But while I will be, these don't strike me as mysteries. I don't know if it is because I've been steeped in the Agatha Christie, Ellis Peters type of mystery for so long or what.

★★★☆½

Sweet Silver Blues (Book 1)

Friday, October 26, 2018

Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.) ★★★☆½

Title: Sweet Silver Blues
Series: Garrett, P.I.
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 320
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett, a Private Investigator, is hired by the Patriarch of some cobbler elves to carry out his sons last wishes. It doesn't hurt that the son and Garrett both served in Cantard and survived their army stint in that region. The father reveals that his son was getting rich in speculating on silver prices, with help from a woman in the Cantard who is probably on the enemies side. This same woman is one that Garrett fell in love with back in the day. So to help out an old dead buddy and maybe see the love of his youth, Garrett agrees to go into the Cantard and get the woman back to TunFaire where she will inherit a small fortune.

Unfortunately, the dead brother has a sister named Rose and Rose wants all that money for herself. She tries to hire Garrett, seduce Garrett, threaten and assault Garrett and eventually she is forced to team up with Garrett. Garrett also hires the help of various people to go on this trip with him.

Turns out the Lady is a vampire now. Garrett and Co kill the Bloodmaster, escape with the Lady and another vampire Garrett's coworker wants for reasons of his own and make it back to TunFaire. The Lady is welcomed by the cobblers as an unofficial inlaw and given the best treatment to reverse the vampirism. Morly, Garrett's coworker uses his vampire to destroy the local crimelord who has been making threats against Morly.

Everyone is relatively happy and everybody gets paid. Garrett also hooks up with Rose's cousin so the detective fulfills the mission AND gets the girl. Not bad.

My Thoughts:

Nothing brilliant with this book but it was the most fun I've had so far this month besides with Shaman King. Light hearted rompy fun.

Cook is obviously riffing on the Hardboiled Noir Detective thing and if I was better versed in that genre I might be able to appreciate this even more. As it is, a hard drinking, hard headed, hard fisted detective living in an Urban Fantasyland works really well. I guess this isn't strictly Urban Fantasy, as it isn't our world at all, but it has all the earmarks of a mixed group of humans and supernatural and a city and the goings ons that happen in cities. (the stinking, filthy, cowflop places).

Cook still yanks his readers around with making his characters know things that aren't revealed to us and having “things happen” very suddenly with almost no warning. I know I missed particulars but I just sat back and let the story roll, even if I didn't perhaps catch all the whys & wherefores. Cook has a style that while not exactly the same, is similar enough so an astute reader can pick up on it from his Black Company books or his Dread Empire series.

I have zero interest in straight up detective fiction. Not mysteries, but Detective Fiction. However, throw in some paranormal stuff and bam, it really works for me. And Garrett is no whiny, crybaby, “poor me, the Council doesn't like me” miserable sodding jackass like some other character I can think of whose name rhymes with Harry Dresden. I can't say that if you hate Dresden you'll like Garrett, but if Dresden made you give up on Urban Fantasy, Garrett might be able to punch you in the head until you admit you really DO like Urban Fantasy now, honest sir!

As long as no pedophile wizard shows up to ruin the series like Cook did with his last Dread Empire book, I suspect I'll be glad to work my through the 15+ books in this series.

★★★☆½