Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy
by Dana Stabenow (Editor)
Retrievers (Collections and Selections — "Palimpsest", 1.5), Nightside (Short Stories — Nightside, Needless to Say, 3.5), Cosa Nostradamus (Collections and Selections — Palimpsest, 5.5), Black Jewels (Short Stories — 5.5, The Price)
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Fiction. Mystery. Science Fiction. Short Stories. HTML:Investigations of a Different KindConjured from the minds of today’s most innovative authors, Powers of Detection features a dozen tales of mystery and fantasy, set in worlds where sleuths may wield wands instead of firearms—and criminals may be as inhuman as the crimes they commit.
From a magical boarding school murder to a courtroom where a witch stands trial, from ancient legends of Alaska and Egypt to stories featuring show more such familiar faces as Sookie Stackhouse and such familiar places as the Nightside, these paranormal procedurals reveal the mysterious behind the mystery…
Includes stories by…
Donna Andrews ? Michael Armstrong ? Anne Bishop ? Jay Caselberg ? Mike Doogan ? Laura Anne Gilman ? Simon R. Green ? Charlaine Harris ? Anne Perry ? Sharon Shinn ? Dana Stabenow ? John Straley
“Highly original tales.”—Publishers Weekly
“Everyone’s heart is in the right place and, in the best stories, their tongues are firmly in their cheeks.”—Mystery Scene. show less
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Member Reviews
This collection was a mixed bag. I liked about half the stories in it well enough to go out and buy more by the same authors but the other half I could have done without.
It's a nice idea, and a good sampler of fantasy writers, but not a great anthology.
"Cold Spell" by Donna Andrews is a comic confection so light, I never really got my teeth into it. I suspect it would work better if I'd read some of the novels this twenty page story of mages and magic was set in.
"The Nightside: Needless To Say" by Simon R Green. I've never taken to the whole Nightside idea: it's too self-consiously noir to be fun - a pastiche on Chandler with a dash the supernatural added to give it some spice. This tale was stylised and glib. The underlying idea was a show more good one but the storytelling was lazy and the characters were dull. Not for me.
"Lovely" by John Straley was original, when did you last read a story from the point of view of a crow, and well written but more an amuse-bouche than a meal. It did give me the appetite to look him up on GoodReads and I think I'll give his Cecil Younger series a try: who could resist a mystery, set in Alaska, and called"The Woman Who Married A Bear"?
"The Price" by Anne Bishop was fascinating: an intense and disturbing look into a nasty world. I'm a fan of Anne Bishop's "The Others" series. This is a LONG way from that. This is much more grown up than Meg Corbyn will ever be. It tells the story of a witch (with a rich and very dark background) hunting a killer who rips men apart, in a land where men are trained for only two things: to serve women and to fight enemies. It turns out that the main character was from Anne Bishop's "Black Jewels" series. I've just bought the first one, "Daughter of the Blood".
"Fairy Dust" by Charlaine Harris is a neatly constructed but slightly light on content tale about Sooki using her ability to read minds to discover who killed a fairy. Fun but insubstantial.
"The Judgement" by Anne Perry has the idea of witch trail as catharsis at its centre. It's cleverly conceived but I felt that there wasn't enough subtlety in how the tale was told. The authorial voice was too loud, with far more tell then show. Still, the novelty carried me to the end and the idea will stay with me.
"The Sorcerer's Assassin" by Sharon Shin was about the murder of a magic professor in a school for magic. It didn't work for me. The plot was a little light, the characterisation more so and the whole thing felt too cosy to generate and sense of thrill or threat.
"The Boy Who Chased Seagulls" is a classic fairytale, meant to warn as well as entertain. It was very nicely done, full of atmosphere and foreboding, but didn't really have anything to do with magical detective work that I could see. A nice read though.
"Palimpsest" by Laura Anne Gliman gave me a glimpse into a well-developed magical world, where "Retrievers" use their Talents to find and retrieve objects. regardless of ownership. I was intrigued, so I bought the first book in the Retriever series, "Staying Dead".
"The Death of Clickclickwhistle" by Mike Doogan lost me after a few pages. It's the kind of sci fi comedy that used to be common in the 1970s: stylised, self-consciously amusing, trying for zany and hitting embarrassing. It has its tongue pushed so hard into its cheek, I lost all interest in what it was trying to say.
"Cairene Dawn" by Jay Caselberg is a Chanler meet Cairo with a whiff of ancient magic. Strong on atmosphere but the pace dragged and the noirish parts didn't quite get there.
"Justice Is A Two Edged Sword" is wonderful. I'd read it before in Dana Stabenow's "The Collected Short Stories"but I read it all the way through again. This is a first rate sword and sorcery with a good mystery plot. I'm hoping that this will become a series of books one day. show less
It's a nice idea, and a good sampler of fantasy writers, but not a great anthology.
"Cold Spell" by Donna Andrews is a comic confection so light, I never really got my teeth into it. I suspect it would work better if I'd read some of the novels this twenty page story of mages and magic was set in.
"The Nightside: Needless To Say" by Simon R Green. I've never taken to the whole Nightside idea: it's too self-consiously noir to be fun - a pastiche on Chandler with a dash the supernatural added to give it some spice. This tale was stylised and glib. The underlying idea was a show more good one but the storytelling was lazy and the characters were dull. Not for me.
"Lovely" by John Straley was original, when did you last read a story from the point of view of a crow, and well written but more an amuse-bouche than a meal. It did give me the appetite to look him up on GoodReads and I think I'll give his Cecil Younger series a try: who could resist a mystery, set in Alaska, and called"The Woman Who Married A Bear"?
"The Price" by Anne Bishop was fascinating: an intense and disturbing look into a nasty world. I'm a fan of Anne Bishop's "The Others" series. This is a LONG way from that. This is much more grown up than Meg Corbyn will ever be. It tells the story of a witch (with a rich and very dark background) hunting a killer who rips men apart, in a land where men are trained for only two things: to serve women and to fight enemies. It turns out that the main character was from Anne Bishop's "Black Jewels" series. I've just bought the first one, "Daughter of the Blood".
"Fairy Dust" by Charlaine Harris is a neatly constructed but slightly light on content tale about Sooki using her ability to read minds to discover who killed a fairy. Fun but insubstantial.
"The Judgement" by Anne Perry has the idea of witch trail as catharsis at its centre. It's cleverly conceived but I felt that there wasn't enough subtlety in how the tale was told. The authorial voice was too loud, with far more tell then show. Still, the novelty carried me to the end and the idea will stay with me.
"The Sorcerer's Assassin" by Sharon Shin was about the murder of a magic professor in a school for magic. It didn't work for me. The plot was a little light, the characterisation more so and the whole thing felt too cosy to generate and sense of thrill or threat.
"The Boy Who Chased Seagulls" is a classic fairytale, meant to warn as well as entertain. It was very nicely done, full of atmosphere and foreboding, but didn't really have anything to do with magical detective work that I could see. A nice read though.
"Palimpsest" by Laura Anne Gliman gave me a glimpse into a well-developed magical world, where "Retrievers" use their Talents to find and retrieve objects. regardless of ownership. I was intrigued, so I bought the first book in the Retriever series, "Staying Dead".
"The Death of Clickclickwhistle" by Mike Doogan lost me after a few pages. It's the kind of sci fi comedy that used to be common in the 1970s: stylised, self-consciously amusing, trying for zany and hitting embarrassing. It has its tongue pushed so hard into its cheek, I lost all interest in what it was trying to say.
"Cairene Dawn" by Jay Caselberg is a Chanler meet Cairo with a whiff of ancient magic. Strong on atmosphere but the pace dragged and the noirish parts didn't quite get there.
"Justice Is A Two Edged Sword" is wonderful. I'd read it before in Dana Stabenow's "The Collected Short Stories"but I read it all the way through again. This is a first rate sword and sorcery with a good mystery plot. I'm hoping that this will become a series of books one day. show less
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 show more 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. show less
A couple of the stories were just flat-out terrible, but most were just blah for three reasons. One is the aforementioned need to show more 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. show less
Powers of Detection presents a dozen stories loosely based around mystery and a fantasy or science fiction or magical element of some sort. I'd originally picked up the anthology to read Charlaine Harris's story, Fairy Dust, a quick mystery set in Bon Temps where Sookie Stackhouse solves a murder mystery sans vampires. Her story expanded the Sookie's universe a little, but remained open to someone who may not be familiar with the world of Bon Temps.
The rest of the collection presents a bit of a mixed bag. Highlights for me included The Nightside, Needless to Say where a zombified detective finds himself in the interesting position of being able to solve his own murder; Lovely which was told from a Raven's rather angry perspective and show more Justice is a Two-Edged Sword where a simple stop for a young seer and soldier turns into a search for justice in a town determined to lynch a young man for the murder of a pretty young girl.
Each of these stories felt like introductions to new writers for me, and they felt like stories that were given attention and care.
On the downside, The Judgement started out as a good idea, but grew increasingly sloppy; The Boy Who Chased Seagulls read like a rejected Aesop fable and The Death of Clickclickwhistle began to collapse under the weight of its own cleverness.
In the case of these stories, it felt almost as if these authors suddenly remembered that they'd promised to deliver a short story to an anthology and that they'd just suddenly remembered their deadline.
Still, between the hits and the misses, there are some more than passable stories. This is an easy read and a worthwhile introduction for some authors you may not have read before. show less
The rest of the collection presents a bit of a mixed bag. Highlights for me included The Nightside, Needless to Say where a zombified detective finds himself in the interesting position of being able to solve his own murder; Lovely which was told from a Raven's rather angry perspective and show more Justice is a Two-Edged Sword where a simple stop for a young seer and soldier turns into a search for justice in a town determined to lynch a young man for the murder of a pretty young girl.
Each of these stories felt like introductions to new writers for me, and they felt like stories that were given attention and care.
On the downside, The Judgement started out as a good idea, but grew increasingly sloppy; The Boy Who Chased Seagulls read like a rejected Aesop fable and The Death of Clickclickwhistle began to collapse under the weight of its own cleverness.
In the case of these stories, it felt almost as if these authors suddenly remembered that they'd promised to deliver a short story to an anthology and that they'd just suddenly remembered their deadline.
Still, between the hits and the misses, there are some more than passable stories. This is an easy read and a worthwhile introduction for some authors you may not have read before. show less
These stories are a great mix of fantasy and mystery, with one having a science fiction motif. I liked Simon R. Green's story of a detective who solves his own murder in the Nightside (The Nightside, Needless to Say), Sookie Stackhouse's interaction with local fairies in Charlaine Harris's Fairy Dust and the sometime humorous account of an alien murder investigation in Mike Doogan's The Death of Clickclickwhistle.
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.
This anthology was one of the better ones I've read recently. Out of the twelve stories presented I enjoyed nine of them. My favorites included Cold Spell by Donna Andrews, The Nightside, Needless to Say by Simon R. Green, Palimpest by Laura Anne Gilman, and Justice Is A Two-Edged Sword by Dana Stabenow. The Price by Anne Bishop, Fairy Dust by Charlaine Harris, The Sorcerer’s Assassin by Sharon Shinn, Cairene Dawn by Jay Caselberg and The Death of ClickClickWhistle by Mike Doogan were pretty good if a bit predictable or somewhat lacking in interesting characters. I do think this compilation would have been better with out Lovely by John Straley, The Judgement by Anne Perry, and The Boy Who Chased Seagulls by Michael Armstrong as they show more were completely uninteresting. show less
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.
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.
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Author Information
Dana Stabenow is the author of the Kate Shugak series for Putnam/Berkley and the Liam Campbell Series for Dutton/Signet. She lives in Anchorage, Alaska. (Publisher Provided)
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- Canonical title
- Powers of Detection: Stories of Mystery and Fantasy
- Original publication date
- 2004-10-04
- People/Characters
- Sookie Stackhouse; John Taylor; Master Radolphus; Gwynn; Master Justinian; The Maestro (show all 63); Reg; Larry Oblivion; Margaret Boniface; Max Maxwell (Big Max); Gunk; Tawk; Stan; Prince Rainier; Daemon Sadi; Jaenelle; Lady Surreal; Claudine Crane; Claude Crane; Ben "Barry Barber" Simpson; Rita Child; Jeff Puckett; Claudette Crane; Stroban; Anaya; The Judge; The Prosecutor; Korah; Bertil; The Defender; Enella; Timour; Professor Morben; Professor Dernwerd; Professor Audra; Headmistress Camalyn; Professor Borrin; Professor Xander; Uncle (Beachcomber, Old Man, Creepazoid, Buster, Percy); Travis; Wren; Sergi; Oscar Gordon; John Carter; Clickclickwhistle; Clicksquawksqueal; Agamemnon Jacques; Madame Fouad; Ossie Fouad; Seth Fouad; Ismail; Crowfoot; Sharryn; Makarios; Cornelius; Nestor; Agathi; Elias; Zeno; Sam Merlotte; William "Bill" Erasmus Compton; Jason Stackhouse; Maxwell Lee
- Important places
- Westmarch College; The Nightside, London, England, UK (fictional); Realm of Kaeleer; Bon Temps, Louisiana, USA; Norwitch Academy of Magic and Sorcery; New York, New York, USA (show all 9); Chuck Yeager (a spaceship); Cairo, Egypt; Daean, Mnemosynea
- First words
- "Murder by magic?" Master Radolphus exclaimed. (Cold Spell)
The Nightside is the secret, sick, magical heart of London. (The Nightside, Needless to Say)
It was a piece of good luck. (Lovely)
"Well, shit, sugar. Someone had a party and didn't invite me." And it was the kind of party I used to like. (The Price)
I hate it when fairies come into the bar. (Fairy Dust)
The court came to order and the Judge entered, not with the shrill call of bugles or the roll of drums, but in silence and all alone. (The Judgement) (show all 12)
When you work at a school for mages, I've learned, it's wise never to leave your room unless you've cloaked yourself in a reflecting spell. (The Sorcerer's Assassin)
The old man walked along the beach on his lifelong mission to collect trash and other cast-off stuff. (The Boy Who Chased Seagulls)
That had better be coffee. (Palimpsest)
Is it dead? (The Death of Clickclickwhistle)
The fog had been up again that morning, just like it was most mornings - that greasy Nile mist clinging to everything, making you wonder what strange, mystical land you might be in. (Cairene Dawn)
It was the first day of the Tattoo Fair, and the town square was bustling with vendors and performers from the nine provinces of Mnemosynea. (Justice is a Two-Edged Sword) - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Anything's better than this! (Cold Spell)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Even when you're dead, there's no rest for the wicked. (The Nightside, Needless to Say)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Lovely, lovely," he said to himself, and as the sonata came to rest he waddled over to the dead man's open eye and just before plucking it out he added one more time: "lovely." (Lovely)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I smiled at him. "Yes," I said, "I'd love to go dancing." (The Price)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Claude smiled at her. "We won't use lemons." (Fairy Dust)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)All she could distinguish was his smile, and his voice, and a great peace shone within her. "Yes?" (The Judgement)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And, come to think of it, I'm not sure any of them did. (The Sorcerer's Assassin)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And Buster, born as Percy, now known as Uncle, went home, perhaps to die, perhaps to live another day, but never, ever, ever to chase seagulls. (The Boy Who Chased Seagulls)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"To karma," Sergi agreed. "To karma, and the joy of being the boot, that gives it a kick in the ass. Zdorov'ye!" (Palimpsest)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"You, too, starspawn," Gordon replied, then turned and let himself through the hatch. (The Death of Clickclickwhistle)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Do you know what a jackal sounds like in the fog of a Cairo dawn? (Cairene Dawn)
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)At least not that night. (Justice is a Two-Edged Sword)
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