Murder and Magic

Four more stories set in Garrett's stiff upper lip society where everyone is a good bloke, happy with what they are doing, apart from the odd murderer. Still entertaining as he works out the cases, though.

_Murder and Magic_ is a collection of four stories of Chief Criminal Investigator Lord Darcy and Forensic Sorcerer Sean O Lochlain. The stories are mysteries that are set in a twentieth century alternate world in which England is ruled by the Plantagenet line of monarchs ever since Richard the Lion Hearted returned early from the Crusades to act as a wise and noble king. Magic rather than science has developed into a systematic area of knowledge, and Catholicism is the predominant religion in England. England's most powerful political rival is the Polish Empire. Garrett develops this setting in loving detail, and it is just the right background for a traditional style of British mystery. Three of the stories ("The Eyes Have It," "A Case of Identity," and "The Muddle of the Woad") are the first stories in the series, published in _Analog_ from 1964 to 1965. The fourth, "A Stretch of the Imagination," is a later piece from a 1973 anthology. All of the stories involve a murder that is solved through the use of applied sorcery, and all four stories play fair with the reader in the solution to the crime. But the stories are not of equal quality. The three earlier stories hold up much better than "A Stretch of the Imagination." The supporting characters in the latter story are more sketchy than those in the earlier pieces, the magic used to solve the crime is much less interesting, and the setting is not as well developed. Perhaps one of the most appealing aspect of the other stories in _Murder and Magic_ is the characterization. While being waited on by a young monk at Canterbury, Lord Darcy muses: "That was one thing about the Benedictine novitiate... it taught a young man from the lower classes how to behave like a gentleman and it taught humility to those who were gently born" (172). Many of the characters share similar qualities with the young monk. Kings and cabinetmakers, dukes and goodmen all tend to behave with an air of dignity about them. This dignity is linked with a sense of pride in good craftsmanship or service. The characters try to do their jobs well, and they strive to render assistance to others. We like many of the characters in Garrett's alternate world, and we wish that there were more people in our world like them. But this response poses a question: Is it realistic to imagine a world heavily populated with such people? I am reluctantly forced to argue that it is not. Garrett's world is a world of marked class distinctions, yet there seems to be no class dissatisfaction; everybody is happy in his social niche. Garrett's England has been ruled by a single line of kings for centuries, and we are asked to believe that they have all ruled wisely and well. England has a state religion; but it is characterized by honest, industrious, and enlightened clergy. Other science fiction writers like Ward Moore, Philip K. Dick, Keith Roberts, and Harry Turtledove have used alternate histories to explo

The first book of Randall Garrett's intriguing (though frustratingly short) Lard Darcy series. Garrett assumed that, instead of our modern world where science and technology reign and magic works only sporadically (if at all), magic had been systemically developed and little of the scientific knowledge and technological development we take for granted has happened. In this world Lord Darcy is the chief investigator for the Duke of Normandy (brother to the ruler of the Angevinian Empire). The way that he constructs his alternative history is sound, his characters engaging, the plots good and the bilingual puns appallingly clever! I highly recommend it!