Monday, November 05, 2007
Garrett, P. I.
Garrett, P. I. by Glen Cook. Fantasy.
This is the second omnibus of the Garrett series. I loved the first one, so I was glad I had this one waiting.
- ***** Old Tin Sorrows.Garrett's old commanding officer is slowly dying, and his old sergeant thinks he's being poisoned, so the sergeant asks Garrett to investigate.
This is a classic whodunit, set in a fantasy world. General Stantnor lives in a household made up of his daughter, a cook, and a whole bunch of old soldiers. And there's a mysterious lady in white seen only by Garrett. The problem is with the General's will: it's set up as a tontine, with everyone getting equal shares, but if someone dies or leaves, their share is divided among the others.
Should be fairly straightforward, right? Especially since the household has been dwindling, and the pace increases once Garrett arrives. Not in Garrett's world.
With Garrett away from the house for most of the book, we don't see much of the Dead Man, or Dean, but it's such a nice twisty murder mystery, that it's hard to mind--particularly when I've got more of the series waiting for me.
- ****½ Dread Brass Shadows.
Garrett's sometime girlfriend Tinnie gets stabbed, and suddenly Garrett is up to his ears in redheads. It doesn't take Garrett long to realize once the second redhead shows up that Tinnie's attack was a case of mistaken identity. Still, neither Garrett nor Tinnie's family intends to let that be an excuse.
Turns out the redheads... and everyone else... are after a book of spells, each page of which can turn the wielder into someone else. And everybody Garrett turns to for help ends up wanting the book themselves.
This story is hectic and fast-paced, a nice contrast from the darker Old Tin Sorrows. It was a bit more personal for Garrett, which was nice, but it also tended to get a bit confusing following the myriad witches, wizards, gangsters, and dwarves after the book.
- **** Red Iron Nights.
This time, Garrett's helping out the Watch, tracking down a serial killer who's targeting young wealthy women who are taking a walk on the wild side--hanging out in the bad part of town. At the same time, he's got a job watching a wacko conspiracy theorist who's just been released from prison. Not an exciting job, but it pays well for not much work, and the Dead Man's insisting.
Garrett and his pals track down the killer and put him away... but it doesn't stop the killing. And then there are those weird green butterflies coming out of his mouth. Making things a little more tense, the daughter of the gangster boss is missing, and Garrett's told to find her as well.
This was my least favorite of the Garrett books. The serial killer mystery was interesting, but it had only the barest connection with the surveillance job. The gangster's daughter plot tied in a little better, but mostly it felt like three separate stories loosely woven together.
...more
Categories: Books, 5stars, 4.5stars, 4stars, Fantasy
Labels: 4 stars, 4.5 stars, 5 stars, books, fantasy
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