Lord Darcy

Rating:
Summary: Magic and Mystery in The Empire
Review: I had the pleasure of knowing Randall Garrett, and he was an incurable punster. Be warned, he really cut loose in this one.
This book is fun. The protagonist, Lord Darcy, and his Forensic Sorceror, Master Sean, serve the Plantagenet Empire, which in this time-line still exists. (Richard the Lion Heart recovered from that crossbow wound and founded an empire.) Together they solve many cases of murder and espionage. The stories are clever and good mystery stories in their own right. The "gimmick" is that in this time-line magic has been developed as a science, and we get to see a forensic Sorceror apply the laws of magic to crime scene investigation. Lord Darcy then applies his deductive talent to the evidence. They make a good team.
All the Lord Darcy stories are here, from the very first one, "The Eyes Have It," to "The Napoli Express." "Too Many Magicians" is a great fun read, long enough to develope several characters and fill in a lot of the background of the Empire.
In these stories Randall threw in as many puns and allusions to spy and mystery novels and series as he could. Nero wolf and Archie Goodwin, James Bond, the Man From Uncle, The Pink Panther, they're all here, as well as many more.
Finally we have "The Spell of War" an atypical story in that it is a war story, and takes place early in Lord Darcy's life, when he is a young officer in the Imperial Army in the war of '39.
Aside from that one the dates in the stories are approximate to the date they were written. Randall gives the impression that the stories were happening at the time of writing, in a parallel universe.
Highly recommended.

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Summary: CSI: Alternate Universe
Review: In an alternate universe where magic works and Richard the Lionheart founded a dynasty that lasted for centuries, Lord Darcy investigates murder and espionage assisted by his able forensic sorcerer, Master Sean O Lochlainn.

The magic in these stories does not provide a deus ex machina for the writer to extricate himself from overwrought plotting. The magic (which obeys strict scientific laws) is used to solve murders, not commit them. Although forensic magic (which is much more helpful than real world forensic science) plays a pivotal role in solving the crimes, none of them would be solved without Lord Darcy's deductive powers.

"Lord Darcy" collects between two covers all the independently published Lord Darcy stories, including "Too Many Magicians," "Murder and Magic," "Lord Darcy Investigates," and two additional short stories. When these stories first appeared in book form in the early 80's, I was a science fiction fan and a mystery foe. Consequently, I missed almost all Garrett's allusions to the mystery genre. I could see Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, but the rest went right over my head. Regardless, I still thoroughly enjoyed the stories and I still have the well-thumbed paperbacks I bought approximately 20 years ago.

I picked up "Lord Darcy" because it promised to give an additional story I hadn't read. You can imagine my chagrin as I re-read the Darcy canon, recognizing further allusions to the mystery genre. My Lord de London turned out to be, not Mycroft Holmes (as I thought upon my original reading of the stories), but Nero Wolfe. "The Napoli Express" became "Murder on the Orient Express," and other allusions abounded. I'm still not much of a mystery fan, so I'm sure many of the allusions still escape me. But other reviewers assure us that they're there for the mystery connoisseur to unearth and enjoy. Happy hunting.

Mystery fans will have a special appreciation for the stories, but the non-mystery fan will enjoy them just as much without recognizing the allusions.

Rating:
Summary: A perfect introduction to the type
Review: It's great to see paperback publishers bringing out "unitary editions" of OP classics for the benefit of those who were too young to know them when they first appeared (or have read their original copies to rags), and Garrett's Lord Darcy trilogy is one of the best choices this particular house could have made. In a splendidly imagined and explicated parallel/alternate 20th-Century world where magic not only works but has been officially codified and where the milieu takes off from recognized historical events (Richard Lionheart didn't die at the Siege of Chaluz in France in 1199, and his descendants went on to create the Anglo-French-speaking Angevin Empire, where physics, not sorcery, is the stuff of fairy tales--the internal-combustion engine and wired communications have never been invented, yet magic operates according to mathematical theory), Garrett seamlessly brings together sf, fantasy, espionage, and murder mystery in the adventures of Lord Darcy, Chief Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, and his friend and assistant, Master Sorcerer Sean O Lachlainn. "Too Many Magicians" is a full-length novel with elements of international intrigue lent by the machinations of Casimir IX of the Polish "quasi-empire," who, like Hitler, dreams of continental (if not world) domination, while "Murder and Magic" and "Lord Darcy Investigates" are collections of short stories originally published in various sf magazines in the '60's and '70's. Garrett (now, sadly, deceased) was obviously a student of history, and he's also a skilled and ingenious plotter who shows a real mastery of what used to be called the "locked-room mystery." Though some of his characters' explanations of how and why magic works may seem a bit tedious, your patience in reading them through will be rewarded--everything in them contributes to your understanding of Lord Darcy's reality. And he throws in some great curve balls too: while "Mechicoe" is a duchy of the Empire's New World possessions, it's still administered by a (Christianized) descendant of the Montezumas. I can think of no similar book that's as good apart from Poul Anderson's "Operation" stories. These books can truly be appreciated as examples of more than one genre and should reach a crossover audience.

Rating:
Summary: It's all about the setting . . .
Review: Many mystery writers have created more memorable characters and have been better at constructing plots, but what makes Randall Garrett's work stand out is the setting. He imagines a Europe and America largely ruled by the British Empire, an Empire that never fell and has discovered magic along the way. Thus, we are treated to the adventures of a detective whose work takes place in a society totally different from our own. The existence of magic makes for an interesting x-factor in the stories. All in all, it makes for a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Not My Cup of Tea
Review: Too much religionism in it for my taste.
I read to get away from reality and religion just reminds me of idiots who want to make war over their religion.

Rating:
Summary: Not My Cup of Tea
Review: Too much religionism in it for my taste.
I read to get away from reality and religion just reminds me of idiots who want to make war over their religion.

Rating:
Summary: Fantasy Mysteries
Review: When I started reading science fiction and fantasy one of the first books I read was _Too Many Magicians_ by
Randall Garrett. Over the years I read other Lord Darcy stories that were collected in various volumes, but as time passed I lost my copies of those books. Thus, it was with great pleasure that I discovered that Baen Books had reissued all of the Lord Darcy stories, including the novel _Too Many Magicians_ in one volume.
The book is organized into three sections, the first is the Lord Darcy stories written before _Too Many Magicians_, the second section is _Too Many Magicians_ and the third is the Lord Darcy stories that were written in the 70's. Finally there is an appendix that contains the last Lord Darcy story that Garrett wrote, which details the first meeting of Lord Darcy and his sorcerer, Sean O'Lochlainn. If you like mysteries and fantasy then this book is for you.