Adrian Collins's Blog, page 168

An Interview with Laure Eve

Laure Eve is probably most well-known for The Graces duology, a contemporary YA fantasy about teens discovering witchcraft. But now she has gone into truly grimdark adult territory with Blackheart Knights, her new reinterpretation of Arthurian legend set in a gritty urban fantasy setting. I had the opportunity to talk to her about Arthuriana, her brilliant new book, and writing more generally. But you’re not here to read my ramblings (see the review of Blackheart Knights that goes alongside this interview for that), so without further ado, read Laure Eve about her work:

Why did you decide to rewrite Arthurian legend in the first place?

The seed of the book was this fabulously intense dream I had a few years ago about two people fighting in some sort of arena. One of them wore a knight’s helmet which concealed their identity, and which was only revealed in style at the end of the dream. The idea of writing about knights came from that, and it seemed like a natural progression towards making them Arthurian knights.

What parts of classic Arthurian myth stuck with you most while researching?

I love a villain, so I was drawn to Mordred and the way he comes about. The best thing about Arthurian myth is that there are so many versions of those stories and characters that you can pretty much go with whatever you please. In earlier versions, as I’m sure you know, Mordred wasn’t portrayed as a villain at all but a lauded knight under Arthur’s banner.

And what modern versions did you think influenced you?

And now a confession. I actually haven’t read or seen any modern versions at all – apart from a BBC adaptation a few years back, with an outrageously good cast (Miranda Richardson, Rutger Hauer, Helena Bonham Carter). I remember it had a lot of attractively goth-y outfits and focused on the Arthurian myths as a way to relate Britain’s transition from paganism to Christianity, which I thought was fun.

What struggles did you face writing within the constraints of a known set of legends?

You kind of want to strike a balance between satisfying the audience’s expectation for familiar touch points, but then undermining or subverting them in (hopefully) unexpected ways. Everyone’s going to bring with them varying degrees of foreknowledge, so your twists won’t always work. But I had a couple of early readers, both of them pretty familiar with Arthurian legend (and both talented, established fantasy writers), neither of whom saw the reveal at the end coming and shouted at me in a complimentary way when they got to it. At that point I thought, okay, hopefully I stuck the landing.

What are aspects that draw you towards retellings/reinterpretations, both as an author and as a reader/consumer of media?

I’m expecting to see characters and stories I already like done in a compellingly novel way that reflects and critiques our current world in some fashion, rather than the world in which the original version was written. Reinterpretation is fun as a creator because in one respect, a lot of the story and character building work is done for you – which makes it sound easy – but then because of that you have to work harder to impress your audience with how you’re using those stories and characters in new fun ways. Otherwise you’re just doing the same exact thing that already exists, which for me is a dull way to create.

Can we expect to learn more about Red’s story in the future?

It’s a duology, so yes Although the sequel is actually two completely different POVs than the first book, so Red becomes a character in other people’s stories rather than one of the main narrators.

I’m always curious to hear more about the editing process. Can you tell us anything about what your editorial relationship was like?

A good editor shapes and refines what’s already strong about the book, and diplomatically suggests ways to get rid of what’s weak. You may clash over differences of opinion over which bits are strong and which bits are weak, but it’s a collaborative effort that requires the writer to step outside of themselves and be a bit less precious, and the editor to concede to the writer’s overall vision. I’m in the hands of one of the best in the business, so that’s just serendipitously awesome for me.

How different was the process of writing Blackheart Knights to your earlier YA work, both in terms of age range and genre?

One answer is that I like to truck with ambiguity and moral uncertainty. In my experience, YA generally has less room for those things. It tends to prefer tangibles and clear moral stances. Also sex. I like writing about it. It’s messy, unpredictable and an essential part of the human experience. Sex absolutely exists in YA, but it’s generally of the ‘exploring it for the first time and so it’s a big deal’ kind. Desire as an adult functions quite differently to desire as a teenager.

Do you have a writing soundtrack?

Always. My acknowledgements contain references to the musicians that, in my view, helped me write the book. In Blackheart Knights I mention a band called Tool, who I listened to on repeat while drafting. For the sequel I’m stuck in electronica and dark wave land – Drab Majesty, Makeup and Vanity Set, Burial. I’ll always publish each book soundtrack on Spotify, just for my own fun. Music is a huge source of inspiration for me.

Tea, coffee or both?

What kind of a person answers tea. That’s what I want to know.

What books (or other media) have you enjoyed recently?

I’ve been on a bit of a cinematic journey over the last year – it was my main non-work lockdown project – and have watched a huge number of extraordinary films for the first time. I’m embarrassingly sketchy on anything pre-70s, so it’s been lots of classic Hollywood noir and screwball comedy, and auteurs like Federico Fellini (8 1/2 is a total joy) and Carl Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc blew my damn mind.)

Describe Blackheart Knights in three words for someone who knows nothing about it:

Knights. On. Bikes.

Read Blackheart Knights by Laure Eve

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EXCLUSIVE: Cover Reveal for The King Must Fall

On the 15th of June 2021, the Grimdark Magazine team be kicking off our new Kickstarter anthology project, The King Must Fall. 14+ stories by some of the best and brightest names in dark Fantasy in ebook and glorious hardcover. We’ll also have signed limited editions in numbered hardcover and lettered leatherbound, and a range of stretch goals and backer level goals to add more authors, interior art, audio production, and a whole range of free ebooks.

Click here to make sure you’re on the notification list for when the project goes live.

More details (and Pen Astridge‘s amazing book trailer) to come.

For now, I’m so, so stoked to show you Shawn King and Felix Ortiz‘s epic cover work for The King Must Fall. Get an eyeful.

Soaking in the details of this cover just hits the fantasy nail on the head for me. In every nook and cranny of this artwork Felix has snuck in something cool: a dragon, soldiers fighting and dying, and a king about to die in many, many ways. From the age of 12 when I first picked up The Hobbit to seeing Raymond Swanland’s cover for The Heroes published by Subterranean Press, this cover speaks to the fantasy lover in me across 24 years of reading and loving fantasy.

For more of a sneak peek at The King Must Fall and to stay on top of updates and when it’s going to release, please head over to our pre-launch page.

More to come!

The post EXCLUSIVE: Cover Reveal for The King Must Fall appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: Peculiarities by David Liss

Peculiarities is a celebration of the strange and the absurd. This alternative historical novel poses the question- what would happen if occult magics were real? Author David Liss answers this question in an immersive read that is a fusion of fantasy, horror, and mystery.

Peculiarities takes place at the turn of the 19th century. London’s famous fog has turned sinister, unleashing an incurable ailment known as the Peculiarities. Newspapers report sightings of the unnatural, of werewolves and ghosts lurking within the gloom. Ghastly mutations emerge, including women giving birth to rabbits. Terrifying beings called Elegants are rumored to be concealed within the fog, murderous and hungry for carnage.

The reason for these unsettling events is unknown; however, the impoverished appear to be targeted. Peculiarities examines how government reacts to tragedy striking the more disdained members of society. It is a commentary on how upper-class covers up its own afflictions to their own detriment.

Thomas Thresher, the story’s protagonist, is the youngest grandchild to the founder of Thresher’s bank. He is also an unexpected victim of the fog. The Peculiarities’ ailment is quickly transforming him into a tree. With only a limited amount of time before he is rooted in place, Thomas seeks to solve his friend’s mysterious death, avoid getting married, and save his family’s legacy. He must discover the Peculiarities’ secrets to save himself. As Thomas delves deeper into this dark mystery, every part of his life is threatened.

David Liss skillfully articulated all aspects of Thomas’s life, creating a truly compelling character. Thomas was born into privilege and is alone because of it. Chained to the will of his brother, he has no say in his choice of work and marriage proposals.

I felt immediately invested in this character, wanting him to rise above his drab clerical job. I truly cared about his relationships between his family and friends. Peculiarities is certainly a fantastical story, but it is rooted in human nature, giving it depth and an element of realism that draws the reader in.

I did find some of Thomas’s character developments to be a little too favorable. This did not disturb my overall enjoyment of the book. It is dark and weird, bordering on macabre. It is not a traditional read, rather an exploratory story of what could have been. Peculiarities has a satisfying conclusion, but there are still lingering mysteries that I would love answered in a second installment.

Peculiarities is an adventure of unraveling conspiracies, exposing London’s most hidden secrets, and witnessing the unexplainable. It is Terry Pratchett’s satire mixed into a darker version of Alice in Wonderland. It is the most bizarre book I’ve read this year.

Read Peculiarities by David Liss

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An Interview with Alicia Wanstall-Burke and Graham Austin-King

Two of the biggest legends in the indie author crew are getting married. They write dark fantasy, they are a great laugh, and they are from opposite sides of the planet. I caught up with Alicia Wanstall-Burke and Graham Austin-King to talk about Alicia’s move to England and it’s impact on her writing, Graham’s work on the follow up to Faithless, and much more.

 

 

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EXCLUSIVE: Excerpt from Priest of Gallows by Peter McLean

We loved getting back into Ellinburg, getting back into the Pious Men, and chatting with Peter McLean about his books and this magnificent story he’s building. Peter has built a brilliant world based around these ex-soldiers shoved back into a society that has almost tried to move on without them and now has to deal with their PTSD, their violence, their ingrained horror, and their history. If that sounds a lot like the people brought back from every war we’ve read about in the 20th century (and probably every century before that), then you’d be bang on. And that’s one of the many reasons each book in this series lands like a 500-page hammer blow.

If you haven’t read the first two books, then definitely check out Priest of Bones and Priest of Lies. Either way, get into Priest of Gallows, below.

Priest of GallowsBook 3 of The War for the Rose Throne

Chapter 1

One murder can change the fate of a nation.

I had been governor of Ellinburg for less than four months when it happened. It was a warm spring evening, and I was relaxing in the private drawing room of the governor’s hall, a glass of brandy in my hand and a book open in my lap. Billy and Mina were sitting under the window together, playing some game of cat’s cradle between them. I watched them over my glass, watched the entwining of the cords between their fingers, and I could see in the looks they shared with each other just how fierce their young love was. I knew how strongly Billy felt for her.

We had almost come to blood over it back in the winter, after all. After I had crushed the strike at the factory, Mina had come to me herself to confess what she had done. That was brave of her, I’d had to allow, but it didn’t change the facts of the thing. I remembered how the rebellious workers had known we were coming when they shouldn’t have done, and how Old Kurt hadn’t been there when he should have been. He had known we were coming because someone had told him, and that someone was Mina.

Mina, who was a cunning woman even Billy looked up to.

She’s very strong.

Mina, who couldn’t do magic without spewing obscenities that would have curled the hair of the lowest conscript soldier.

Mina, who Old Kurt had once taken in when she was a little orphan girl on the unforgiving streets of Ellinburg.

That was a betrayal, and I took it ill.

Very ill indeed.

‘Don’t kill her, Papa,’ Billy had begged me, in the end. ‘Please, please don’t kill her.’

‘She betrayed us,’ I said.

The cold fury Ailsa had left me with was still upon me in those weeks, and I couldn’t find it in myself to feel understanding or mercy.

Not for anyone.

Billy got a hard look about him then, and it came to me through my icy rage that perhaps I recognised that look. Perhaps it wasn’t so very different from how I had looked at my own da, the night I killed him.

‘You won’t kill her,’ Billy said, in that way he had when he knew a thing was so. ‘You won’t, because I won’t let you.’

There was something in his over-bright eyes, something that told me he truly meant it. Billy the Boy was strong in the cunning, if still not quite so strong as Mina herself, and he was either a seer of Our Lady or possessed by some devil out of Hell. No one, neither cunning man nor priest, was really sure which.

Sometimes he gave me the fear, and I’ve no shame in admitting that. There are few men in this world who I would fear to face with swords, but I fear the cunning. I fear what I can’t see, what I can’t fight – disease, and magic, but not men. And yet that wasn’t what stayed my hand.

At the time it had been barely four weeks since Ailsa had left us both and returned to Dannsburg. Billy had lost his ma, and I knew that had hit him hard. Was I really going to take his woman away from him too, betrayal or not? Beside that, Mina had saved my life at the sit- down with Bloodhands, her and Jochan. I had told myself then that I wouldn’t forget that, and I hadn’t.

I spent a long night thinking on it, and perhaps I even prayed on it too. Priest I may be, among other things, but I’ll confess that I don’t pray often. Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows doesn’t answer prayers, after all, but perhaps that night she heard one.

I spared Mina’s life, and I found it deep inside me to forgive her too. Family is important, after all, and I understood that Old Kurt had been like family to her. By the end of a long, sleepless night I understood why she had done it. I loved Billy as my own son, although he wasn’t, and since Ailsa had deserted me he was all I really had left. My aunt was distant, my brother mad, and Bloody Anne was so busy running the Pious Men and I the city that we hardly saw each other any more. I wasn’t going to lose my son too, and if forgiving Mina was the price of that then so be it.

Watching them now, I was glad I had.

I’m a harsh man, I know that, but I like to think I’m a fair one.

‘I win,’ Mina said, although I couldn’t make head nor tail of their game.

Billy laughed and leaned forward to kiss her, and I turned back to the book in my hand. I’m no great reader but the governor’s hall contained a library of almost a hundred books, and in Ellinburg that was a treasure indeed. I had resolved to read them all, although I’ll allow that my progress was slow. This one was a treatise on mercantile law, and I understood little of it, but to my mind a city governor should know such things.

I was working my way painfully through a section on the finer points of the rates and levies of the import duty on tea when Salo entered the room and uttered a polite cough.

The house I had shared with Ailsa off Trader’s Row was closed up, unneeded and unwanted. Exactly how I had been to her, in the end. I had kept the staff on, though, and brought them with me to my new official residence in the governor’s hall. I’d known I wouldn’t have been able to trust any of Hauer’s former servants, and Salo was a good steward.

‘What is it?’ I asked, without looking up from my book.

‘There’s a messenger, sir,’ he told me. ‘A rider just arrived from Dannsburg. The guard have her in the downstairs office and they assure me she knows the correct words of exchange. She says she has come from the Lord Chief Judiciar with an urgent message for you.’

I frowned at that. The Lord Chief Judiciar was Dieter Vogel, of course, and he was also secretly the Provost Marshal of the Queen’s Men.

That made him my boss.

‘Aye, well,’ I said, and closed my book. ‘I’ll see her in my study, then.’

Salo gave me a short bow and left the room, and I got to my feet with a sigh. Any urgent message from the house of law was unlikely to be a good thing. I refilled my glass from a bottle on the side table and took it with me, leaving Billy and Mina to each other’s arms. I don’t think they even noticed me leave.

* * *

The woman was thin and dirty and she looked tired half to death, and those things told me she had seen hard riding on the road.

She was grimy of face and her clothes were nondescript, a stained cloak over a coat and britches that any rider might have worn. The Queen’s Men have no uniform, no insignia or badges of rank. We are invisible and officially non-existent, and those who work for us could be anyone – bakers or soldiers or chandlers, farriers or fishwives or whores.

Only a very few carry the Queen’s Warrant, people like Ailsa and Iagin.

People like me.

I wondered if this one even knew who she truly worked for. Many of those who serve us don’t even realise it, after all.

Read Priest of Gallows by Peter McLean

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REVIEW: Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

Visually, the proof of Threadneedle by Cari Thomas is one of the most stunning advance copies I’ve been sent. The cover looks like embroidery, to match main character Anna’s magic, based on threads and knots. Threadneedle is a story of magic, of forbidden witchcraft. Set in a contemporary London, this world is similar to our own but features a number of covens practicing magic. Anna and her aunt are part of the Binders, a group of witches that bind away magic and only allow elders to practice it in a puritanical fear of it. And seventeen-year-old Anna knows that her magic will soon be bound, having lived with the knowledge that magic drove her father to kill her mother when she was but a babe. But then, family friend Selene returns to London, with her daughter Effie and Attis, a boy their age who joins them at their girls’ school. The newcomers shake up Anna’s life and she begins to wonder whether there might be more to magic and her life and history than her aunt had been letting on.

I loved the first hundred pages or so of Threadneedle. I thought the concept was amazing, and really enjoyed the characters and set up. Stories about witches and self-discovery are my jam, and so this was exactly what I needed. I got stuck in the story and my expectations were high. But what I thought this was going to be was not what it was. After the stakes were set, much of the middle part of the book was used for school squabbles. Threadneedle is a good 550 pages long, and a large part of the middle 250 to 300 pages is fluff that could have used a good trim. Much of what happened in that part didn’t actually do much to drive the narrative or build up the characters further, but rather just seemed to be used as filler to use up story time. Towards the end, the story picked up again, and ended in a way that made me curious to continue on, to see where Anna’s future takes her. Nevertheless, the book as a whole left me disappointed, wanting more. The concept had a lot of potential, and much of it was left unrealized. That doesn’t mean that the book doesn’t have its strengths. I really enjoyed the ways magic worked – how binders used knots, how Rowan’s family used plants and how Effie used rituals among others. The characters were interesting and well-developed, and especially Anna and Effie intrigued me, and the character reveals towards the end of the story make a sequel appealing to read.

All in all, Threadneedle is a story that is far from perfect, but if you are into books about witchcraft and enjoy YA fantasy with a big dash of the CW TV drama this might be a good fit for you.

Read Threadneedle by Cari Thomas

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REVIEW: A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

P. Djèlí Clark writes lush masterworks, his newest book to his collection of stories in The Dead Djinn Universe is A Master of Djinn. And, much like his other short-form works, A Master of Djinn is an intense sensory experience, with engaging characters, dialog, and kick-ass fight scenes.

It is no secret that I am a fan of his novels.  The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Dead Djinn in Cairo are gorgeous works of short-form fantasy. He has a knack for describing things to such a degree that you shouldn’t be surprised if the red sands of Egypt poured out between your pages or you start to smell the heady incense of the streets of Cairo. If you listen very closely, you could probably hear drums thrumming while you read. 

“The three of them sat there – A Ministry agent, a half-djinn, and a cat (likely), staring out past the balcony to the sleeping city they somehow had to find a way to save.”

This kind of description is probably not for everyone. It can meander a bit, slow down the plot a little. If you are a fan of punchy stories, this one is probably not for you. 

The story’s plot is a solid murder mystery staring Agent Fatima el- Sha’awari, who works for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. We were introduced to her in Clark’s other novellas, The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Dead Djinn in Cairo and the short story The Angel of Khan el-Khalili. We are back in 1912 Cairo. Djinn and all manner of creatures are a part of daily life. Fatima is investigating the murder of a dozen brutally burned people, The Brotherhood of Al-Jahiz. The corpses’ clothes were untouched. It is as if they were scorched from the inside out. 

Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms before vanishing into the unknown. Fatima, her girlfriend Siti, and her new partner try to unravel the case before the supernatural forces kill us all. Of course, things all go pear-shaped. 

“Even a rich man must sometimes eat with beggars.”

One of the aspects I loved was the subtle subtext of defining what feminity is. On the one hand, you have Fatima, badass in a dapper suit in a world full of ultra-conservative people. On the other, you have a couple of characters in the story that are the epitome of what women are supposed to be in 1912 Cairo. Meek and mild. They wouldn’t hurt a fly. I enjoyed the interplay off of the characters with a few twists. And while the ending was of no great surprise to me, I enjoyed the dynamic and the journey getting there. 

Unlike Clark’s novellas and short stories, the characters didn’t completely click with me. Fatima is supposed to be a shrewd investigator. She is no novice when it comes to dealing with the supernatural creatures of Cairo. However, at times Fatima seemed almost bumbling. Plot details that were essential points of interest for the murder case seem to get overlooked for a few chapters. While sweet, Fatima’s romance with Siti lacks the intensity that I think Clark was trying to convey. They had a solid connection, but they seemed to be casually dating rather than be in a relationship. 

“You! You can’t just walk in here! This is a crime scene!” “That would explain the dead bodies, then,” she replied. He blinked dumbly, and she sighed. Wasting good sarcasm was annoying.”

The action sequences were like watching a Michael Bay movie in my head. They were fantastic. His pacing and descriptions get you into the characters while they battle. It balanced well against the story as it slowed down a bit in some sections. 

To my knowledge, this is Clark’s first step into full-length novels. And as such, this first novel has some minor pacing and dialog problems. It feels like he was making himself comfortable in this length of a story. However, in typical Clark fashion, it is generally an excellent story with superb descriptions and an engaging who-done-it plot. Is it perfect? Not quite. But it is enjoyable as hell, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great murder fantasy mystery. I can’t wait to read more works in this series.

Read A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

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REVIEW: Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach is not a simple story. There is nothing subtle and simple about a middle-aged scientist with prosthesis octopus-like legs, time travel, ecological restoration, and culture dynamics. Nor is there anything subtle about a world in recovery that has been racked by climate change, species die off, and plague. The world Minh lives in is one that is complicated and nursing its wounds and trying to move on.

It sounds like it is a depressing story full of tropes, coming off as a typical apocalyptic novel. But in Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach, it isn’t like that. If anything, Robson has created a world that is recovering and in a lot of ways excelling. We are past the struggle for resources usually associated with apocalyptic novels. The descriptions of technology and how it is intertwined with life are marvelous, but humanity has changed past that. To me, there seemed to be an undercurrent of depression among the plague-babies (those that survived the plague), Minh’s generation. This is in stark contrast to Kiki’s generation, the fat-babies. The characterizations between the two cultures is relevant and interesting.

The story is told in three parts. The first, and most lengthy is setting up the world building and Minh’s life as a world-class ecologist. Her job is to go out and do reclamation on natural habitats in an attempt to find balance again with nature. We meet Kiki, an administrator, and fat-baby – tall, healthy, and robust in personality. All she wants is Minh’s approval and friendship. She goes out of her way to put herself in Minh’s life, almost to an uncomfortable degree. Minh is a cantankerous older woman. Set in her ways and uncomfortable with how forthright Kiki is. A new proposal for a time travel project to ancient Mesopotamia has come up, a proposal that Minh wants badly. Kiki and Minh work to land the bid and enlarge her team with the addition of Hamid. He falls in the middle, personality-wise. The second part of the story is the actual expedition and ecological restoration work. It is fascinating how Robson handles this. She creates a stark dichotomy between the technology of the Lucky Peach(their ship) and ancient Mesopotamia. The third part of the story is what happens after the intial part of the cataloging is done, where cultures clash.

Robson has meticulously constructed a story that is rich and nuanced. Areas that are “old-hat” in science fiction, i.e., time travel, seem restrained and exciting instead of worn out. It is a rigorous story that asks a lot of the audience. Character dynamics, the heart of the story, are done in a way that you empathize with all sides involved. It is obvious why Robson won many awards for this story. This story cements her as a science fiction powerhouse and one to watch in the coming years.

Read Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson

originally published on Beforewegoblog.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: The King Must Fall dark fantasy anthology kickstarter

The Grimdark Magazine team and I are incredibly excited to announce our next major anthology project, The King Must Fall. Featuring 14+ stories about kings and leadership figures being deposed, and written by some of the best and brightest (darkest?) minds in fantasy, this project is going to be brutal, bloody, and jammed full with betrayal and jaw dropping moments. You’re going to love it.

We’ll be launching the Kickstarter for The King Must Fall on the 15th of June. Please click on the below image (where you’ll also see a sneak peak of the gorgeous cover we’ll be revealing soon and some of the author list) to register on the pre-notification page. When we go live on the 15th of June, you’ll be the first to know!

Our last Kickstarter project Evil is a Matter of Perspective was our most successful product ever, winning the 2017 Reddit Stabby award for best anthology. I’m looking forward to putting together another premium anthology for you.

Keep your eyes peeled for more updates over the next couple of weeks. The cover reveal, author lineup, rewards, stretch goals–we’ve got a lot of great stuff on the way!

The post ANNOUNCEMENT: The King Must Fall dark fantasy anthology kickstarter appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg

I received a review copy of Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to T.A. Willberg and Trapeze Books for the opportunity and for inviting us to the book’s Blog Tour. Minor spoilers may follow.

A colleague asked me today what I’d been reading recently and I described Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder to them as follows: Well, you know Harry Potter has a Wizarding School? Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder has an academy for Sherlock Holmes-esque Detectives and Inquirers. It’s set in the 1950s, in London, and there is an underground secret village where they operate from. The entrance of which is a trapdoor in a bookshop. They are extremely secretive, intelligent, ghost-like crime-solvers, who come to the aid of Londoners when nobody else can assist and they even have their own postal service. Near the start of the novel, there is a murder at the academy. So, that person must have been killed by an agency employee. Marion Lane, a first-year apprentice whose point of view perspective we follow, spends the novel trying to figure out who committed the crime and how it could have taken place. Things get a bit more intense when one of her closest acquaintances is accused of the titular Midnight Murder. After probably wishing they had never asked me, my colleague said they liked the sound of it and then went to their next meeting.

I liked the sound of it too when Trapeze was kind enough to approach me. I was intrigued by the book’s premise and Stuart Turton’s cover blurb sealed the deal. I found the UK cover to be striking yet it does give an impression of the novel being YA. That’s okay though as Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is one of those books that graces the crossover ground of YA and Adult and can be appreciated by both types of readers.

Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder is a quality mystery thriller, which takes place not long after World War II and is mostly set in a subterranean setting. It’s a fun, clever, and intricate read which includes some intriguing engineering and Steampunk elements. Marion is a likable lead and the supporting cast, which includes students, Inquirers, and professors, are varied and entertaining to follow.

T.A. Willberg is a writer with huge potential and a very readable style. I found this was a story that rewarded me for paying extra careful attention to what was happening. There were a lot of great story elements throughout including characters gossiping about events, strangers following others, motives, ambitions, and the internal hierarchy of the academy, complex character histories, mysterious maps, unwalkable pathways, and a mechanical area-guardian.

On reflection, I had a mostly positive time with Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder and I will happily rate this debut as a solid 7/10. Although that’s the case, I’d say that the first 33% was just interesting enough to keep my attention. If I wasn’t on the blog tour I may have DNF’d this and moved on to something else. After the first third of the novel though, happenings get really interesting. This is when somebody is accused of the titular murder and they must be guilty as nobody else entered the room. Or did they? How is that possible? After this point, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder reminded me of what makes a fine, readable, and memorable mystery novel and why I love the genre.

Read Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder by T.A. Willberg

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