Crime Spells

by Robert T. Jeschonek, Peter Orullian, Devon Monk

Book Overview

Sixteen original stories about magic-fueled crimes and those who investigate them When magic is used for criminal purposes, all sorts of ethical and logistical questions arise beyond the realm of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0756405386
• ISBN13: 9780756405380
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Daw Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.1" x 6.6"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

She took the winding staircase one ache at a time.

DAW has been putting out these anthologies for decades now, I've read a few, and while they haven't been groundbreaking, they certainly haven't deserved the disdain that they've often gotten. After all, has anybody ever heard of a story from one ever being nominated for an award? It may be that so many of them have a "house anthology" and a "let's settle" feel. The "let's settle" feel comes from the feeling that Greenberg and his associates are just settling for stories that aren't too bad, or too good, not really too banal, but also not really cutting edge, and nothing edgy. Just fiction that's as slickly commercial as it can get, a kind of sf or fantasy lite. "Crime Spells" is a clear example of this. You would think that mixing crime and fantasy would be a great idea and would lead to a fool proof anthology that would contain all sorts of gold, after all, the whole urban fantasy trend is crime and fantasy based. Never underestimate the resourcefulness of fools. Take the first story "Web Ginn House: A Zoë Martinique Investigation" by Phaedra M. Weldon. Clearly Weldon is having more fun writing this story than most will have reading it. It's like, f'r sure, told in a TOTALLY flippant, pseudo-chick lit style. The fact is, I've been interesting in reading Weldon's stories for some time now, but this story has put a dampener on that, as Martinique comes across as an airhead, and the investigation as a joke. While this story is about an investigation of a haunted house, we never really learn WHY gun-for-hire Martinique's client wanted her at the house in the first place. Two stars. The second story is "The Hex Is In" by Mike Resnick, and it shows why the novels and stories by Resnick that I've so far read have singularly underwhelmed me. This is a minor league crime story in which somebody is using magic to rip-off bookies. The story is told in a pseudo-pulp style that shows why Resnick has a tin ear for pulp crime fiction storytelling. Resnick is too clever and cute by half as the story reads as nothing more than a five-finger exercise. Clearly a story picked because of Resnick's name value. Two stars. Michael A. Stackpole does a better job with "If Vanity Doesn't Kill Me" in which somebody is killing off, in particularly nasty ways, the contributors to a charity. A good story that struggles because the story tries to straddle the line between being a gritty and cynical crime story and being inoffensive enough to be published here. It almost succeeds, so . . . three stars. A good rule of thumb is that if critics go ga-ga for an author, run, do not walk to an exit to avoid their stuff. Jay Lake is such an author. "Witness To The Fall" starts out with a murder, and then a Truthsayer is called to a trial to determine the innocence of a man. Unfortunately Lake then burdens the story with such prose as " . . . voice as cold as a child's headstone.", " . . . she blushes like the fires of dawn.", etc. Page after page of su

Good Though Mostly Predictable

Writing crime stories when there's magic involved is tricky, but the authors here do a pretty good job overall. Most of the stories are tight and quick-moving, with only a couple of ones I felt were duds (a decent ratio out of 16 stories). The crimes run the gamut without a focus on just murder mysteries (though that's the majority of the stories) and are generally interesting, thoughtful, and well written. Resnick's was the best of the lot, which is rather what I expected (yes I'm a HUGE fan of his work). Recommended for anybody who's either a crimes-solving fan and/or a fantasy buff.

whimsical urban fantasy tales

These sixteen urban fantasy tales are whimsical and though this reviewer suggests spreading the entries over several days as the theme is somewhat limiting. Each contribution is well written and especially quirky like Mike Resnick's sure bet "The Hex Is In". Fans will enjoy the exploits of these heroes like the star of "Web Gin House" by Phaedra Weldon as she leaves her body to spy on others or the "Witness to the Fall" by Joseph E. Lake. No clinkers, this is a lighthearted romp as the authors seem to enjoy writing unusual "Eye Opening" (by Jason Schmetzer) short stories in which "The Wish of the Wish (by Robert T. Jeschonek) is for more CRIME SPELLS. Harriet Klausner