Death by Silver

Great world, with an interesting magical system, and a strong steampunk sensibility. I particularly like the vicious, roving plants. Heh. Also, hooray for gay romance, and man, boarding schools are the pits. Solid mystery, very entertaining.

A mystery novel set in an alternate Victorian England where magic is a normal part of life. Metaphysicians study magic and offer their services to the populace to do things like enchant a gate to unlock only for members of the household or ensure that the family silver isn't cursed. Fledging metaphysician Ned Mathey has been hired to ensure just that by the father of a schoolmate who tormented him at school. Ned takes the job, certifies the silver curse- free, and is stunned to learn the next day that his client has been killed by a piece of cursed family silver. He enlists the aid of another old school friend (and sometimes lover)--Julian Lynes, a private detective--to try to discover what happened.

I love these "little bit of this, show more little bit of that" stories, where you get elements of different genres. This is a little bit fantasy, a little bit romance, and a lot mystery. The elements of the murder case, Ned's discomfort with the family who hired him (one of the sons treated both Ned and Julian appallingly at school--the extent of which is a plot thread, so I won't expound on it here), and Ned and Julian's relationship all come together nicely as the story unfolds. The world building is slight but satisfying and complete. I know there's a sequel, and I hope this will become an ongoing series, as I would happily return to this world and these characters again and again. show less

Magic Victorian Mystery. Imagine Holmes/Watson in a Victorian England where magic is real. Their detective character even has a Holmes-like addiction to a euphoria-producing spell. Lots of red herrings and mysterious characters. I could have done with fewer flashbacks to their stereotypically miserable schooldays. Of course the client they are trying to clear is the #1 suspect and was the abusive prefect during their boarding school days.

A very enjoyable murder mystery set in an alternate Victorian London, where metaphysics (or magic, to you and me) is a respectable profession and Ned Mathey and his old school friend (and lover) Julian Lynes have been hired to solve the murder of Edgard Nevett. Death by Silver rollicks along amiably enough, and there were some little touches I quite liked, but the novel as a whole was lacking some indefinable spark.

The blurb mentions them having to explore London's "sodomitical demimonde", which I suppose is technically true, but it's all in about a sedate a manner as possible. I wanted a little more sense of this as a tangible world, and for a little more yearning, a little more heat, in the romance. Mathey and Lynes' relationship show more felt cosy more than it did a grand passion—I kept waiting for it to ignite and that never quite happened. Equally I was waiting for Miss Frost's character to be fleshed out more—as it was, she felt uncomfortably like the Competent Self-Assured Female Character who's inserted into a story to defend against charges of sexism. I wanted to see her do stuff, as opposed to being told she'd done stuff/told that she had an interesting back story.

I would definitely read more in this world, though—there's definitely a promise here that I think Scott and Griswold can build on. show less

It's always such a pleasant surprise when I enjoy the developing relationship in a novel as much as I enjoy the plot--usually one eclipses the other. This was a joy all over, and while not without its flaws (I found the flashbacks pertinent, but also jarring) it was smart and complex in its feeling out of human relationships--friend, lover and foe are never as simple as that.

Sort of Sherlock Holmes-y if there was a complex and rather mathematical magic suffusing London's life and culture. And if Holmes and Watson were actually gay as hell for each other. It took a bit for me to really get into this book, but I'm a sucker for a "we're basically together, but we're STILL PINING because we're IDIOTS" romance, and also for competence porn. The mystery's resolution was a disorienting anti-climax though (we figured out the murderer... ok bye), which was... odd.

A lovely, well-crafted universe, with two really interesting characters and a realistic portrait of how difficult can be to go from friends-with-benefits to something more.

The mystery was interesting, but I knew who was the culprit around the first half of the book. Nevertheless, it still managed to hold my interest, mostly because there was a lot of danger for our heroes and I didn't actually know how they would go about making public what had really happened.

I'll be reading the second book in this series pretty soon :D