Powers of Detection

Powers of Detection (2004) edited Dana Stabenow

I like fantasies. I like mysteries. So… “Stories of Mystery and Fantasy” sounds like a good thing. Plus Charlaine Harris has a Sookie Stackhouse short story, and that had to be a good thing.

Well, it was an okay thing.

The Charlaine Harris story was good. In “Fairy Dust,” Sookie has to figure out who killed Claudine’s sister, Claudia.

Having read Anne Perry’s fantasy before, I skipped “The Judgement” entirely. She may write good mysteries, but what fantasy I’ve read has been not good.

I liked Jay Caselberg’s “Cairene Dawn” even though I caught onto where he was going with it. It was fun and amusing. Anne Bishop’s “The Price” was an interesting story. The setting and the world were strange, but the story was still fascinating.

I also liked “The Nightside Needless to Say,” which was a quick read, and in the hard-boiled vein, which I enjoy when done well. John Straley’s “Lovely” was interesting as well, seeing as how it was written from the point of view of a crow.

The other stories were for the most part okay. I didn’t like “The Death of Clickclickwhistle” too much, but it was science fiction rather than fantasy, and that was the part I didn’t care for, rather than the mystery.

Rating: 5/10

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