Reading Journal Entry: Murder by Magic, ed. by Rosemary Edghill

A short story collection edited by Edghill, showed up on my reserve list at the same time as Warslayer. Unfortunately, there's no Edghill story in it! So I was disappointed. It's difficult to do mysteries well, especially within the added confines of a short story. And fantastical mysteries are even more challening because there are more conventions to balance. The result is an uneven batch of works. There were about five interesting stories in the collection; the rest range from lackluster to completely inadequate. I know I have high standards, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect these stories to actually include a mystery.

I enjoyed most Laura Resnick's 'Doppelgangster' and Doyle's 'A Death in the Working'. Friesner's 'Au Purr' had a nice playful tone to it as well.

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