Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery & Fantasy

This twelve story collection anthology combines elements of the mystery and fantasy genres into a fantastic rewarding experience. Each tale is top rate and several include popular characters such as Sookie Stackhouse and known locales like Nightside. The contributors are top players from in their own genre, but had no problem placing a foot in the area they normally do not frequent. Each author insured that the magical elements seemed real drawing the reader into becoming a believer for the moment yet did not crimp on the mystery components whether it is an investigation of a murder by mythological creatures, magical Alaskan charmers, a school to rival Potter¿s alma mater, or a legal thriller with quite a jury of ones peers. The crossing of the two genres works on all levels so that the audience of either will appreciate mayhem in a whimsical setting............................. Harriet Klausner

As with most anthologies, it's a grab bag. Some of the stories were good mysteries. Only a couple of them were the kind of short stories that are one small step up from poetry in the navel-gazing, see-how-clever-I-am category that makes me hesitant about the whole idea of short stories. I bought this one for the Anne Bishop story, and didn't even plan to read it shortly after Dreams Made Flesh. Fate loves me. Anyway, the Anne Bishop story was worth it--the others--the good ones, that is, were just frosting.

The problem with anthologies of short stories by multiple authors is that they can be really uneven. This one has an additional complicating factor: the premise, while interesting, leads a lot of these people into trouble. You see, these are mystery stories written in a fantasy or sci-fi setting, mostly by authors of the latter, and you can tell. A lot of them don't write mysteries well at all; it's long been an observation of mine that everyone thinks they can write a mystery. (Willard Scott? Martina Navratilova? At least Michael Moriarty has the name.) They're a lot harder than you'd think to write well.A couple of the stories were just flat-out terrible, but most were just blah for three reasons. One is the aforementioned need to write a mystery: these people write something totally guessable, and don't have a really good style for it at that. A second reason is that short story mysteries are really hard to do, since you don't have a lot of space to set things up. Even an accomplished mystery writer like Anne Perry, who has a story in here, didn't do very well within the strictures of a short story space. Which leads to the third reason, which is that some authors tried tying the stories into other worlds they'd published books in, and I didn't know most of them. Maybe they'd have been better if I did, but they fell flat without it.There were a few good stories, though. The Sharon Shinn one set in a magical boarding school in a very non-Potteresque way was good, and I didn't guess it to boot. The Charlaine Harris one was the only one tied to an outside world that I felt worked well, although I don't like it enough to try reading her other books. The Dana Stabenow one was very good, about a sword and magic duo that work as judges, and it was probably the second best (I think). My favorite was the Laura Anne Gilman one, featuring characters she turned into novel heroes after, drawing magic in otherwise everyday surroundings like electricity. Good enough mystery, good style, sorta Kelley Armstrong-ish. I'll probably pick up the first novel later.In all, though, you could probably just sit and read the better stories in a bookstore or something. That'd be worth it.

A universal problem with anthologies is that you may get a couple excellent stories and then you get some rancid pieces thrown in that make you hate publishing houses that force you to pay top dollar for a very short story by your favourite author.Having vented, there are a couple really good pieces in this book. Simon Green, Charlaine Harris, Laura Ann Gilman and Dana Stabenow wrote what I felt were the best. Of course that leaves 8 other authors that I didn't care for. Oh well, they weren't terrible, just not what I look for in a novel.

Great blend of mystery and fantasy and makes me want to search out some of the authors to read more.

It amazes me how much of an influence an editor has over my enjoyment of the stories in an anthology. I've learned that some editors have a tendency to rush from climax to conclusion, allowing as little as a paragraph for the fact that “it's over” to sink in. Other times, the editor allows the authors so much leeway that they don't even appear to bother with such elements as “structure”, “characters”, “setting” or “plot” - and would be tempted to do away with “verbs” if at all possible! This is why I've learned to respect Dana Stabenow as an editor. For the most part, the short stories in her collections have an introduction, conflict leading to climax, and a true resolution. She allows her authors the short-cut of character exposition as the plot goes along – these are, after all, SHORT stories! However, by the time the story is over, I'm comfortable that I've followed the plot & learned something about the characters – and usually their locale, as well. This last aspect is VERY important in the collection “Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy”. Most of the stories are good old-fashioned murder mysteries, except rather than set in the back-alleys of New York or Chicago or … they're either in some fantasy realm, or among some extraordinary denizens of our world. Therefore, the setting MUST be described in greater detail, and the physical rules of the world or dimension in which the story is set must also be explained … all while running towards the conclusion of a SHORT story. I would find it hard to pick out a favorite among the stories and authors. Charlaine Harris lends a tale featuring her Sookie Stackhouse (a character I've heard of, but not read before now). The editor contributes a tale where sword and sorcery also provide a more traditional sense of justice. Sharon Shinn, Anne Perry, Donna Andrews, Mike Doogan … a dozen stories, in all. While I'm not usually a fantasy reader, the prospect of setting a murder mystery in a fantasy setting was intriguing to me, and I'm glad I invested the time into reading this collection. So much so that I have already picked up the sequel: “Unusual Suspects”.