Garrett, P.I. (Old Tin Sorrows/ Dread Brass Shadows/ Red Iron Nights)

I am only 6 books in and the story is quite frankly getting... old. Glenn Cook is a great writer and i loved his "Black Company" series however i just can't help but to fell like i am in a never ending loop of more or less the same stuff with the Garrett P.I. However i would recommend the first and the second trio book series. Garrett P.I. does deliver however the stories just seem to peter out lose steam and focus to me. I am not sure if i will finish the other set mostly because i am just too cheap to pay the $40 plus dollars for the 3 series set.

This is the second omnibus of the Garrett series. I loved the first one, so I was glad I had this one waiting. __________ ***** Old Tin Sorrows. Garrett's old commanding officer is slowly dying, and his old sergeant thinks he's being poisoned, so the sergeant asks Garrett to investigate. This is a classic whodunit, set in a fantasy world. General Stantnor lives in a household made up of his daughter, a cook, and a whole bunch of old soldiers. And there's a mysterious lady in white seen only by Garrett. The problem is with the General's will: it's set up as a tontine, with everyone getting equal shares, but if someone dies or leaves, their share is divided among the others. Should be fairly straightforward, right? Especially since the household has been dwindling, and the pace increases once Garrett arrives. Not in Garrett's world. With Garrett away from the house for most of the book, we don't see much of the Dead Man, or Dean, but it's such a nice twisty murder mystery, that it's hard to mind--particularly when I've got more of the series waiting for me. __________ ****½ Dread Brass Shadows. Garrett's sometime girlfriend Tinnie gets stabbed, and suddenly Garrett is up to his ears in redheads. It doesn't take Garrett long to realize once the second redhead shows up that Tinnie's attack was a case of mistaken identity. Still, neither Garrett nor Tinnie's family intends to let that be an excuse. Turns out the redheads... and everyone else... are after a book of spells, each page of which can turn the wielder into someone else. And everybody Garrett turns to for help ends up wanting the book themselves. This story is hectic and fast-paced, a nice contrast from the darker Old Tin Sorrows. It was a bit more personal for Garrett, which was nice, but it also tended to get a bit confusing following the myriad witches, wizards, gangsters, and dwarves after the book. __________ **** Red Iron Nights. This time, Garrett's helping out the Watch, tracking down a serial killer who's targeting young wealthy women who are taking a walk on the wild side--hanging out in the bad part of town. At the same time, he's got a job watching a wacko conspiracy theorist who's just been released from prison. Not an exciting job, but it pays well for not much work, and the Dead Man's insisting. Garrett and his pals track down the killer and put him away... but it doesn't stop the killing. And then there are those weird green butterflies coming out of his mouth. Making things a little more tense, the daughter of the gangster boss is missing, and Garrett's told to find her as well. This was my least favorite of the Garrett books. The serial killer mystery was interesting, but it had only the barest connection with the surveillance job. The gangster's daughter plot tied in a little better, but mostly it felt like three separate stories loosely woven together. __________ I'm not sure if I liked the last one

Since most of Cook's Garrett books are long out of print and very difficult to come by, you might end up having to buy this consolidation to find the individual stories. This book, "Garrett, P.I.," is the 2nd of 3 consolidations (so far). The others are "The Garrett Files" and "Garrett Investigates." This book contains the 2nd three stories in the Garrett series: "Old Tin Sorrows," "Dread Brass Shadows," and "Red Iron Nights." "The Garrett Files" contains the 1st three: "Sweet Silver Blues," "Bitter Gold Hearts," and "Cold Copper Tears." "Garrett Investigates" has the last three so far consolidated: "Deadly Quicksilver Lies," "Petty Pewter Gods," "Faded Steel Heat." The remaining two books ("Angry Lead Skies," and "Whispering Nickel Idols") still appear to be in print on their own. As was the 1st consolidation ("The Garrett Files"), this book is well bound, has good quality paper, and is well cut. As a pure average of my ratings for the three contained stories, I rate this book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5. My individual reviews follow: "Old Tin Sorrows:" Excellent 4th in Cook's Garrett Series. If this isn't the best of the whole Garrett series, it's right up there fighting for the slot. For all intents and purposes, there's no Dead Man in this book: it's all Garrett, with some support from Morley and a couple of appearances from Saucerhead and the Dojango triplets. It's got good pacing and keeps you scratching your head trying to figure out what's going on all the way to the end. It's also one of the darkest books in the series. Nasty stuff. But, it explains why Garrett is so fixated on his picture of Eleanor in later books. Excellent, excellent book. I rate it at 5 stars out of 5. "Dread Brass Shadows:" Very Good 5th in Cook's Garrett Series. Unlike the previous book, this one has a lot more Dead Man in it. Unfortunately, as a counterbalance, the pacing is a bit uneven (nothing horrible, just noticeable). This book also introduces Winger. Alas, Cook's portrayal of her is inconsistent. From scene to scene, she varies from competent to incompetent at specific tasks. For instance, in one scene, she's not all that good at hand-to-hand combat. Yet, in another scene, she defeats someone whom Garrett would be afraid to tackle. Ditto for her tracking ability: at one point, she's essentially blind to what's going on around her. At another, she's picking out people Garrett misses. It's a shame, since she plays such a large part in the book (basically replacing Morley and Saucerhead). Given that, I rate the book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5. "Red Iron Nights:" Very Good 6th in Cook's Garrett Series. It's a good book, but the pacing could use some work. Also, Cook introduces several minor plot elements and does very little with them until the end. One of them, having to do with Morley, he doesn't do anything with (like explain it) at all. Regarding recurring motifs in the series, in this book, Cook introduces Chodo's daughter and the Parr