Murder by Magic: Twenty Tales of Crime and the Supernatural

An otherworldly anthology of twenty original stories of murder by acclaimed and award-winning science fiction and fantasy writers.“Readers who don't mind mixing things up a little, crossing over genres and back again, should have a very good time indeed.” —BooklistTales of mystery and supernatural have long stirred the human imagination. Here are twenty original stories of diabolical crimes and magical solutions featuring some of today’s top science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writers. From the Elizabethan era to the far-flung future, from the interstellar realm of the Eraasian Hegemony to the Las Vegas Strip, these ingenious whodunits (or whatdonits) are sure to baffle and delight every lover of mystery and the fantastic.Discover these and other incredible tales:“Grey Eminence” by Mercedes Lackey: In Victorian-era London, two young girls with mysterious powers are stalked by an inhuman killer.“Cold Case” by Diane Duane: A detective who solves murders by communicating with the ghosts of the victims embarks on the most bizarre case of his career.“Piece of Mind” by Jennifer Roberson: When the only witness to a murder is a dog, it takes a special investigator to find the truth.“Special Surprise Guest Appearance by . . .” by Carole Nelson Douglas: In this theater of the mysterious, a celebrated magician comes face-to-face with a practitioner of the blackest arts.“Murder Entailed” by Susan Krinard: After Lord Featherstonehaugh is found murdered by unknown means, Lady Olivia Dowling must search her stately home to unearth a villain with a magical gift—and a talent to kill . . .“An entertaining anthology that provides plenty of magical mayhem.” —The SF Site

From Publishers Weekly

Although authors such as Randall Garrett in his acclaimed Lord Darcy series successfully melded whodunit plots with alternate universes where magic is real, few of the 20 supernatural mystery short stories in Edghill's all-original anthology rise above the mundane. Inspired contributions include Teresa Edgerton's "Captured in Silver," a nice ghostly locked-room murder tale, and Lillian Stewart Carl's "The Necromancer's Apprentice," which presents an interesting solution to the actual mystery surrounding the death of Amy Robsart, wife of Elizabeth I's favorite lord, balancing wizardry with astute deductions about the political motives of those who stood to benefit. The standout, James D. Macdonald's "A Tremble in the Air," introduces a psychic detective, Orville Nesbit, who's clearly heir to the tradition of such sleuths as Algernon Blackwood's John Silence and who deserves to live on in further tales. Unfortunately, most of the other stories rely on catchy gimmicks (e.g., a husband-and-wife sorcerer team based on Nick and Nora Charles in Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's "A Night at the Opera") rather than well-crafted puzzles. The jacket art—showing a white-bearded wizard gazing at a body outline on the flagstones of a foggy, gas-lit street—amusingly evokes the fantasy-crime blend. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Here's an interesting collection. These 20 stories, by names both big and small, feature otherwordly crimes and supernatural solutions. Carole Nelson Douglas writes about a stage magician who meets a real magician; Diane Duane introduces us to a detective who solve crimes with the help of the dead; Laura Resnick (in the delightfully titled "Dopplegangster") writes about mobsters who are dying after seeing someone who looks just like them. The stories plunge us deep into history and fling us far into the future. The fantasy elements may put off mystery fans of the never-mix, never-worry variety, but readers who don't mind mixing things up a little, crossing over genres and back again, should have a very good time indeed. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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