Luke Arnold created a fantasy Detective Noir series. Like many Noir stories, war and industrialization hang over the main character leaving him scarred and ill-adapted to a rapidly changing world. Yet, underneath the darkness, the hero who had gone to war remains wanting to save people as a detective, as a solver of issues. The author captures this feel perfectly in Fetch Phillips surviving in a world where magic has been removed in an apocalypse level event. Now everyone just needs to make a living in a world with fewer rainbows, unicorns, and hope. Still, mysteries remain.
The Fetch Phillips Novels Series
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LAST SMILE IN SUNDER CITY
In a world that’s lost its magic, a former soldier turned PI solves cases for the fantasy creatures whose lives he ruined in an imaginative debut fantasy by Black Sails actor Luke Arnold.
Welcome to Sunder City. The magic is gone but the monsters remain.
I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are a few things you should know before you hire me:
1. Sobriety costs extra.
2. My services are confidential.
3. I don’t work for humans.
It’s nothing personal–I’m human myself. But after what happened to the magic, it’s not the humans who need my help.
MY REVIEW for THE LAST SMILE IN SUNDER CITY
Read for a book club.
A noir PI set in a fantasy world – murder mystery, kidnapping, disappearance, thugs, gang war, solider remembrances. Very much in the manner of Glen Cook’s Garrett Files, only this time the world isn’t magic anymore – the magic has been frozen and those that can have to live beyond it.
Wonderful noir wording. A real gem.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for DEAD MAN IN A DITCH
In this brilliant sequel to actor Luke Arnold’s debut The Last Smile in Sunder City, a former soldier turned PI solves crime in a world that’s lost its magic. The name’s Fetch Phillips — what do you need? Cover a Gnome with a crossbow while he does a dodgy deal? Sure. Find out who killed Lance Niles, the big-shot businessman who just arrived in town? I’ll give it shot. Help an old-lady Elf track down her husband’s murderer? That’s right up my alley. What I don’t do, because it’s impossible, is search for a way to bring the goddamn magic back. Rumors got out about what happened with the Professor, so now people keep asking me to fix the world. But there’s no magic in this story. Just dead friends, twisted miracles, and a secret machine made to deliver a single shot of murder. Welcome back to the streets of Sunder City, a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.
MY REVIEW for DEAD MAN IN A DITCH
Detective Noir in an Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy-World setting where the magic has turned off.
A character study of someone consumed in hero-worship faced when the hero might no longer be worthy of worship.
Betrayal, hope, brightness, shadow, dragons, guns, city, cold, rebuilding, destroying, and a dead man in a ditch.
Densely written, but not happy. But then good Noir should not be happy.
And this is good Noir.
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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for ONE FOOT IN THE FADE
In a city that lost its magic, an angel falls in a downtown street. His wings are feathered, whole—undeniably magical—the man clearly flew, because he left one hell of a mess when he plummeted into the sidewalk.
But what sent him up? What brought him down? And will the answers help Fetch bring the magic back for good?
Working alongside necromancers, genies, and shadowy secret societies, through the wildest forests and dingiest dive bars, this case will leave its mark on Fetch’s body, his soul, and the fate of the world.
MY REVIEW for ONE FOOT IN THE FADE
DNF at 17% (DNF = did not finish)
It’s late March 2024. In late March 2020, the quarantine started. I’ve been trying to read this book for a couple-few weeks, but I’m going to DNF it. I’m not in the right headspace.
As our intrepid detective discovers his culture sinking and selling out to a tyrant who is delivering jobs in exchange for democracy and individualism, I am watching my culture sell out to fascism in the hopes of instant power and easy stability. He is dealing with his cops and government being owned by the business oligarchy, and I am struggling holding down multiple jobs and watching the next generation of my family sinking even further because the rich do not pay a living wage to entry level workers. I’m heartbroken because I am not in the position to help them, and this book has person after person struggling to survive in a modern-ish fantasy environment. I cannot escape what I am running from in this book – the fantasy detective noir is too noir to break me from reality, or, more likely, my reality is too noir right now.
If you are looking for Noir, this series captures the feeling well.