Unusual Suspects

October 27, 2008
This follow-up to Powers of Detection
(2006) breaks no new ground, but offers 12 stories with enough well-paced variety to keep readers happy. In Charlaine Harris’s notable Sookie Stackhouse tale, “Lucky,” one insurance agent’s good luck makes him a target. A “resurrected” Humphrey Bogart is murdered in Carole Nelson Douglas’s “Bogieman” while Santa Claus investigates the murder of an elf in John Straley’s “Weight of the World.” On the lighter side, a divorcée gets used to a menagerie of ghostly housemates in Sharon Shinn’s “The House of Seven Spirits” and a young woman confronts a cave dragon turned loan shark to solve her father’s disappearance in Laura Anne Gilman’s “Illumination.” Strong tales outnumber the weaker ones by a considerable margin and will satisfy fans of both genres.

December 15, 2008
Charlaine Harris returns to Bon Temps, LA, where Sookie Stackhouse (the main character on HBO's "True Blood") is on the case of a mystery involving an insurance man and some missing money in "Lucky," the first of a dozen stories featuring contemporary writers of mystery, horror, fantasy, and combinations thereof. Including contributions by Sharon Shinn ("The House of Seven Spirits") and Simon R. Green ("Appetite for Murder"), this follow-up anthology to "Powers of Detection" is recommend for fantasy and mystery collections where paranormals are popular.

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