Warren Rochelle's Blog - Posts Tagged "melissa-scott"

Death by Silver by Melissa Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fans of Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett’s Point series, and the series’ two protagonists, Nico and Philip, will find themselves in both familiar and unfamiliar territory in this newest Scott novel, Death by Silver, co-authored with Amy Griswold, just released by Lethe Press. There are two clever men, a love affair and its complications that needs sorting, magic, a mystery that needs solving, dangerous antagonists, and a richly developed, detailed, and nuanced world, and language that is graceful and beautiful and honest and very, very witty—all familiar.

But, it is the unfamiliar territory that engaged me and kept me reading this page-turner—unfamiliar territory that is both strange and comfortable at the same time. Death by Silver is set in Victorian England, yet not quite the historical one. In this England young men who go to Oxford can study to be a metaphysician and learn a particular magic peculiar to this world, a magic that Scott and Griswold have carefully and convincingly constructed, a magic of wands and letters and signs and sigils, a magic of written words. A cantrip, written on a piece of paper and dissolved in a glass of water, can “banish [an] incipient headache” (206).

The two clever men of the novel are metaphysician Ned Mathey and private detective Julian Lynes. Mathey, “just up from Oxford,” has only recently hung out his shingle and can’t afford to turn away clients, not even the rich and arrogant father of “the bully who made Ned’s life hell at boarding school” (back cover). Edgar Nevett wants an investigation into “the matter of a curse upon certain pieces of silver owned by the Nevett family. All other remedies have failed, and the assistance of a metaphysician has become obviously necessary” (2). Whether the silver is actually cursed or whether Mr. Nevett wants the romance of a curse become something of a side issue, when he is “found dead in his study, felled by a heavy silver candlestick that lay bloody at his side” (25). When Scotland Yard seeks Ned’s assistance, he brings Julian, another old school friend, onto the case. The game is afoot.

Who murdered Edgar Nevett? And how—was a curse actually used and Ned failed to detect it? He had determined the silver candlestick to be “magically harmless,” after all. Where will solving this mystery take Edgar and Julian—how deep in to “London’s criminal underworld and sodomitical demimonde” (back cover) must they delve? Can Ned and Julian both work with Victor, the son who so bullied them at school that Julian still wishes Victor dead? The memories of what happened at school are still painful, and far closer than either Ned or Julian imagined. The beatings, the canings, still haunt both men. And, what of the mysteries of their own hearts, the mystery of who Ned and Julian are to each other, now as grown men, and no longer bullied school boys?

This carefully constructed mystery, with its red herrings, obscure clues, its scandals and secrets, and carefully imagined magic, is compelling and engaging. I started it as a book to read on a plane and I couldn’t put it down and I kept reading it long after the three-hour flight was over. Ned and Julian are charming men, real and authentic, and how they sort out their feelings for each other ring true for the repressed nuances of Victorian sexuality. The ending is very satisfying; this novel really works.

I want a sequel, a series! Highly recommended.




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Fairs' Point by Melissa Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Point of Hopes, Point of Dreams, Point of Knives, and now, Fairs’ Point. At the last DarkoverCon Melissa Scott remarked that were thirteen Points in the city of Astreiant and she and her late partner, Lisa Barnett, had originally planned a novel for each. That we now have four gives me hope that there are many more stories of Nico Rathe, Adjunct Point, and his lover, Philip Eslingen, swordsman and former mercenary, to be told.

In this fourth novel of Astreiant, where astrology works and the working of magic is a profession and the dead, human and animal, return at ghost tide, Nico and Philip once again find themselves embroiled in a mystery. It is Dog Moon, and “the chief entertainment for nobles and commons alike, is the basket-terrier races at New Fair.” This year, things are a bit different. A young nobleman’s bankruptcy “has convulsed the city, leading to suicides, widespread loss of employment, and inconvenient new laws. As well, a rash of mysterious burglaries seems to suggest a magistical [magical] conspiracy” (back cover).

Pointsman Nico Rathe is, of course, in the middle of this, as is Philip, to whom the nobleman owed money. When the young man’s goods are divided among his debtors, Philip receives a basket-terrier puppy. He decides to have the dog, Sunflower, trained for the races—a decision that draws both men deeper into a mystery that somehow involves dog racing, burglaries, silver coins somehow appearing in a city wall, and strangely-done murders. Something weird is definitely going with the silver.

Complications ensue.

Scott once again is in top form in the ongoing world-building and exploration of this fantastical city. Details are rich and true, from the careful construction of a matriarchal society in which men don’t own property and a Queen is always on the throne, from the food sold at Wicked’s to how an alchemist examines a dead body. Such whimsical details as having the ghost of Nico’s childhood dog return during ghost tide I found particularly delightful. The mystery driving this police procedural is well-plotted, and the relationship that is the heart of this novel, that of Nico and Philip, is realistic and honest. They have things to work—should Phillip take the commission in the new Guard? How will this affect their relationship?

Just how the mystery is solved will be most satisfying to the reader.

As a Scott fan, I found myself once again drawn into this world and once again I was reluctant to leave it. Scott sets up the ending with the suggestion that this novel is indeed part of an ongoing longer story—and yes, my appetite is more than whetted for the adventures of these two likeable and personable characters to continue.

On a side note, I did wonder if maybe Scott might think about providing some sort of glossary of terms No, a glossary (or a gazetteer or a list of dramatis personae) isn’t necessary to understand and enjoy the story, and the context of each term does give me enough to go on. Even so, I’m curious: does “second sunrise” and “false dawn mean” there are two suns in the sky? Is Dis, as in Dis Adones and Dis-damned, akin to Dis Pater, the Roman god of the underworld? Does “How in Tyrseis’s name” and “What in Seidos’s Name” refer to the gods of this world? My guess: yes, Dis is a god, and perhaps so are Seidos and Tyrseis. Do I need to know to enjoy this novel? No, but knowing would enrich the experience and add to the wonder of this city of Astreiant.

Temple Point, Point of Graves… yes, more tales to come! Highly recommended.




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A Death at the Dionysus Club by Melissa Scott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


First, let me state for the record, I am a BIG fan of Melissa Scott & Amy Griswold. Those who loved the prequel to this book, Death by Silver, and its two heroes Julian Lynes, magic-using detective, and Ned Mathey, metaphysician, in a richly detailed and believable alternate Victorian London, will not be disappointed.

Scotland Yard wants Ned for its Metaphysical Squad. A poet comes to Julian. The poet is being blackmailed for writing ladies' romances. The Yard wants to investigate a mysterious murder: the man's heart has been removed. Are these events connected? Is there some heart-stealing supernatural creature at liberty? Will the investigation of these crimes expose Ned and Julian--as lovers in a society that would condemn them as sodomites? Julian and Ned are now an established couple, beginning to build a life together in a society that condemns homosexuality except in the shadowy gay demimonde of such places as the Dionysus Club. Can their relationship survive?

This tale--a love story, a murder mystery--and its beautifully constructed alternate reality--is highly recommended.



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Wind Raker by Melissa Scott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Like the first three books in this series, The Order of the Air, Scott and Graham have clearly done their homework in creating/recreating this alternate 1930s which is also ours-rather this is a hidden 1930s. History as we know it is in progress: the Nazis have risen to power in Germany, and FDR is in the White House. And there are other forces, other powers, at work. Magic is real, so are the old gods and the Occult. There are those of us, like Alma and Lewis, Mitch, and Jerry, who are practitioners, who are the Order of the Air, and work for good--and others who don't.

"It's the summer of 1935 and Gilchrist Aviation's owner, Alma Gilchrist Segura has brokered a deal that will take herself and fellow pilots Lewis Segura and Mitchell Sorley to Honolulu to test a new seaplane." The gig pays enough that they can take their families along, including the 3 children of their handyman who has abandoned them. Jerry, the other member of the Order is already out there, working on a new dig "investigating whether Hawaii was actually discovered by the Chinese. It's a crackpot idea but it's [Jerry's] chance to prove he can still handle fieldwork," even though missing part of his left from an injury in the Great War.

But, as Scott and Graham fans can expect, not so fast. Who is funding this dig and why? Why is the German archaeologist Willi Radke there, "who seems to know exactly what they want to find?" Why is this new plane plagued by mechanical errors--could the engineer Lily really be cursed? Who wants to kill a "middle-aged Army office of an allied lodge?" Evil is at work, powerful evil, can Jerry, Al, Mitch, and Lewis defeat it?

Along with the magical mystery there is the human drama. The abandoned and traumatized children--will they accept Mitch and his wife, Stasi, as foster parents? Can Jerry prove himself as a dig director and restart his career? Will the unexpected relationship Jerry finds himself in with Willi last past the summer? Should it?

At times, the background material of 1930s aviation slows down this richly detailed and well constructed story, but not enough to slow the reader and lose any interest. And background material like this is necessary. Mystery, drama, danger, evil--all here, along with believable and engaging characters.

Fans will enjoy this book. Those who have been waiting for Jerry to have a relationships will be glad, too.

Recommended.




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