Detectives and Swords

Sally has had her head in a new fantasy series over the last few weeks. Here's what she has to say.

Alex Bledsoe has written a series of hard-boiled detective, high fantasy novels, the latest of which (Dark Jenny, released earlier this year) I found on the Fantasy e-Newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

It might sound like a odd mix, but it works well in a sort of send-up and homage to both genres. Eddie LaCrosse is a sword-jockey, former mercenary, one-time nobleman, and a match for the heroes of either genre. Set in a medieval world, the characters are wonderfully modern and wry. I particularly enjoy the way Eddie talks about his swords - like the specialist tools they are, with all sorts of wonderful features (such as the sword that has a safety catch - read Burn me deadly to find out how that works.). I'd half expect to find sword catalogues spread all over his desk.

There are three in the series so far and you can read them in any order you like, but I'd reccommend doing as I did and start at the beginning. The Sword-edged blonde is the first, followed by Burn me deadly and Dark Jenny. I've been reading these almost exclusively for the two weeks or so, and now the rest of my family has started on them. Highly reccommended.

The Sword-edged blonde - It should have been a case like any other: a missing princess, a king willing to pay in gold for her return. But before he realises it, private investigator Eddie LaCrosse, a slightly shopworn sword jockey with a talent for discretion and detection, is swept up in a web of mystery and deceit involving a brutally murdered royal heir, a queen accused of an unspeakable crime, and the tragic past he thought he had left behind.

Burn me deadly - Above Angelina's Tavern in down-and-dirty Neceda you'll find the office of Eddie LaCrosse, a freelance sword jockey who, for twenty-five gold pieces a day, will take on any task short of murder for hire. Eddie's on his way back from a routine investigation when his horse almost runs down a half-naked blonde in serious trouble. Against his better judgment, he promises to protect the frightened young woman, only to find himself waylaid by unknown assailants and left for dead beside her mutilated body. Eddie isn't the kind of guy to just let something like this pass. But who killed Laura Lesperitt? Eddie's quest for payback leads him to a tangled mystery involving a notorious crime lord, a backwoods dragon cult, royal scandals, and a duplicitous femme fatale who has trouble keeping her clothes on. As bodies pile up, attracting the unwelcome attention of the king's guards, Eddie must use all his wits if he hopes to survive.

Dark Jenny - When beautiful Queen Jennifer is accused of adultery and murder, Eddie finds himself drafted at sword's point to solve the mystery. With time running out, and powerful nobles all too eager to pin the murder on Eddie himself, he must unravel a tangled web of palace intrigues, buried secrets, and bewitching women - before the entire kingdom erupts into civil war.