Tag: Detective

Book Review (SERIES): The Fetch Phillips Novels

Erin Penn Leave a comment

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

  1. The Last Smile in Sunder City
  2. Dead Man in a Ditch
  3. One Foot in the Fade

Amazon Cover

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.

Amazon Cover

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.

Amazon Cover

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.

Other Blogs: Flaming Sun 4/19/2019

Erin Penn

As Tax Season begins to calm down, I started thinking about whether I want to participate in this year’s A to Z challenge. It makes me write more than normal, but the co-requirement of visiting other blogs is time-consuming. On one hand, I don’t have much time – on the other hand, I discover such gems as Flaming Sun. I loved this blog post she made in April 2019, discussing how she has a reoccurring character who has wormed his way into story after story.

I responded with:

Every writer should have one of THOSE characters. That character who, when you work on another book, strolls in and looks around, maybe leaving his/her imprint behind and then goes back where they come from. They never ask for their own story – they just want to meet everyone else. I have one – unfortunately he isn’t a detective, so I usually have to leave his visits on the editing floor. – Erin 

Do you have a reoccurring character who just won’t stay in their original creation but keeps showing up – crossing genres, timelines, and universes willy-nilly? Comment below on this question and/or if I should participate in the A-to-Z challenge. Is the time investment worth the production results?

Again the blog that made me think about this is: https://www.sundarivenkatraman.in/2019/04/a2z-april-challenge-2019-q-for-quirky.html?showComment=1555784793139#c7336481118263561866

And the link to the A-to-Z challenge is here: http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/

Author Spotlight: Michael G. Williams

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

Around the time I wrote the Author Spotlight on Michael G. Williams back in 2017, my publisher asked me if I knew Mr. Williams and would be interested in editing a book by him. Seems the boss had picked up the series which I discussed in the blog post, plus would be publishing the last of the series. If I was available, he would assign it to me.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, OMG, OMG!!!! Squeal!

After I calmed down, I worded a reply – deleted that one as being way too fangirl – did another after I calmed down again. Finally I managed something along the lines of: “I have enjoyed his work and believe I can fit another book into my schedule.” Hit send on the email, then finger out and take a sip of tea. So professional. While quivering in excitement.

One book turned into two, then three, and now I am his go-to editor at Falstaff. (He does get some of his short work published elsewhere.)

My mantra when editing his work is “Don’t pull a J.K. Rowlings with Mr. Williams.” I want his work to be the best possible, which means he must get edited completely. Unlike Ms. Rowlings, whose books clearly had editing slack off as her editors changed into fans, I had to remain an editor. No matter how much of a fan I am.

And if I stay good, I get to see his work before anyone else!

That’s a big incentive to stay on the straight and narrow red editing line.

This year Falstaff Books put out three of his novels/novellas.

First one happened back in January 2019, A Fall in Autumn. In fact, it was Falstaff’s first publication of the year as well as the first book in a science fiction series about a detective. It’s amazing! The central conceit of the SF aspect is organic manipulation, not the typical military and spaceship story.

Second happened in June, Nobody Gets Out Alive, concluded the Withrow Chronicles. (I.touched.it. I.got.to.make.this.series.better.) The final cross-genre for the vampire series was War Chronicles. I had to dig deep to remember what I knew about the tropes of that genre, but I truly feel that the conclusion delivers on the promise of the series. Not an easy thing to do for a five-book opus.

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Third, and last one, published this year, Through the Doors of Oblivion, the first of a new series in the Quincy Harker/Shadow Council universe. This is perhaps his best story yet, mixing in so many of his passions. Mr. Williams love of San Francisco bleeds through every page. In fact, most of my editing felt like: “Pull back. This scene doesn’t fit this story right now. I know you love it, but save it for later books.” This time the urban fantasy focuses on witches vs. a demon, with a lot of the City by the Bay history thrown in.

Each book published this year had a different focus, a different sub-genre, and yet his author’s voice dances throughout even as the series voice and character voices adjust. He is an amazing writer.

And I get to edit him! (squeal, hands clapping)

Read his stuff. Give him a reason to complete the next book of the Fall in Autumn and the Servant/Sovereign series. I can’t wait to see them.

You can follow him at: http://www.robustmcmanlypants.org/perishables/

Book Review: Southern Bound (Max Porter #1)

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

Southern Bound (Max Porter Mysteries #1) by Stuart Jaffe

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

When Max Porter discovers his office is haunted by the ghost of a 1940s detective, he does the only sensible thing … he starts a detective agency!

Thrust neck-deep into a world of old mysteries and dangerous enemies, he will face ghosts, witches, and curses. He will discover a world in which survival might be the easiest challenge. And he will do anything necessary to keep his wife and his life from falling away.

Real history meets the paranormal in this thrilling, suspenseful series!

 

MY REVIEW

Ok – After finishing the story, I re-looked at the title and it took on a dozen new meanings. Rarely have does a title fit a story this well.

The story is a research-mystery genre, with a little paranormal thrown in. I liked the character doing research in actual books, as well as internet, foot work, and face-to-face interviews. Slow in parts, because research is slow. Fast when a breakthrough happens. You feel like you are going step-by-step through the process with the researcher. No magic Google searches or wikipedia entries, the character needed to touch books not scanned onto the internet.

And because the story is research, the paranormal in a detective story works. Often, as the character trudged once again off to the library (which becomes a character in and of itself), you forget this world also has ghosts and witches – or the ghosts and witches feel the same as the employers and thugs, the world has them, not all are pleasant, and you still need to make a living.

I’ve been reading a lot of urban fantasy genre with mystery edges, and so I found the fact the romance was between two married people rediscovering their relationship after a rocky patch very refreshing and relaxing.

I really liked the POW history aspect. A must-read for anyone who likes mysteries and is from North Carolina. At the end of the story you want to visit all the places appearing in the book and also find out what parts were true and what were fiction.

Book Review: Thieftaker (Thieftaker Chronicles, #1)

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

Thieftaker by D.B. Jackson

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Boston, 1765: In D.B. Jackson’s Thieftaker, revolution is brewing as the British Crown imposes increasingly onerous taxes on the colonies, and intrigue swirls around firebrands like Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty. But for Ethan Kaille, a thieftaker who makes his living by conjuring spells that help him solve crimes, politics is for others…until he is asked to recover a necklace worn by the murdered daughter of a prominent family.

Suddenly, he faces another conjurer of enormous power, someone unknown, who is part of a conspiracy that reaches to the highest levels of power in the turbulent colony. His adversary has already killed—and not for his own gain, but in the service of his powerful masters, people for whom others are mere pawns in a game of politics and power. Ethan is in way over his head, and he knows it. Already a man with a dark past, he can ill afford to fail, lest his livelihood be forfeit. But he can’t stop now, for his magic has marked him, so he must fight the odds, even though he seems hopelessly overmatched, his doom seeming certain at the spectral hands of one he cannot even see.

 

MY REVIEW

Harry Dresden meets Revolutionary War Boston

I have a new author to add to my faves – D.B. Jackson. The worldbuilding in Thieftaker is superb. Normally I avoid “alternate histories” – the tweaks never follow out to logical conclusions.

Example: The American Revolution inspired the French Revolution. Keep America loyal to British Rule so no American Revolution and jump forward 200 years … what happened in France and does the emperor still rule there and how does that affect France during WWII … do they accept occupation or fight? All of history feeds off itself; you can’t change just one thing.

But this book is not an alternate history, Thieftaker is an urban fantasy set in historical time. Ethan Kaille could be Harry Dresden, if the Chicago wizard lived in Boston just before the revolutionary war.

The characters are real, from the flawed hero to the merchants rivals on the warf. The arguments are urgent from the dreamers driving the country to the brink of revolution to the honest (and not-so-honest) people who just want to make a living and fear changes to the status quo. The scenes are authentic from the riots in the cobblestone street to the country manors of the Crown government. D.B. Jackson does an outstanding job blending his academic background as a historian with his occupation of fantasy author. A reader can immerse in fictional history.

Is the main character likeable? Not always, but I always rooted for him – even when he was being unlikeable. Can’t buy a good tea without paying England her tax, can’t have a good detective without him also being a Dick when interrogating suspects. And that is also part of the excellent worldbuilding.

If you like urban fantasy via detectives, pick up this book.