Terry Newman
Books: Fantasy | Mystery
Nicely Strongoak: Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf (2014)
Nicely Strongoak
Detective Strongoak and the Case of the Dead Elf (2014)
I started this months ago, wasn't in the mood for it, and then picked it up again when I needed something different.
Nicely Strongoak is a dwarf detective of the noir tradition: single man, likes pretty women, smart-ass attitude.
I didn't hear the swish of the mace until the briefest of moments before it took me with it into the dark that has no name. It's like the dark that has got a name, but it was rotten to its parents and they disowned it completely, which has made it a whole lot meaner.
That is my reading catnip, so of course I had to pick it up.
The music came courtesy of a three-piece band that probably thought they were a four-piece band, judging by all the gaps they were leaving in the tunes.
'Petrochemical industries,' I muttered to her departing back. Dirtiest thing I could think of to say.
It's plenty witty, although the mystery wasn't all it could be, with this kind of book, it doesn't necessarily have to be–you're reading it to be amused, not for major intellectual stimulation.
Lost princesses were generally lost because someone very important did not want them found.
So–it took me awhile to get into it, and the mystery wasn't particularly strong, but it was amusing and light, and sometimes that's what you're in the mood for.
Published by Harper Voyager
January 2016 | Rating: 7/10