Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.)

Sweet Silver Blues Sweet Silver Blues is the first book in the Garrett Files collection. Garrett is a tough ex-marine private investigator in the mold of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. The series is set in a fantasy world that is quite amusing. His advisor is "the Dead Man" who is really not a man at all, but, oh never mind , buy this book, you'll want to read it several times. Gunner September, 2007 1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987) 2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988) 3. Cold Copper Tears (1988) 4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989) 5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990) 6. Red Iron Nights (1991) 7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994) 8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995) 9. Faded Steel Heat (1999) 10. Angry Lead Skies (2002) 11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005) Science Fiction Book Club omnibus editions: 1. The Garrett Files (collects Sweet Silver Blues, Bitter Gold Hearts, and Cold Copper Tears; 2003) 2. Garrett, P.I. (collects Old Tin Sorrows, Dread Brass Shadows, and Red Iron Nights; 2003) 3. Garrett Investigates (collects Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, and Faded Steel Heat; 2004)

Sweet Silver Blues (1987) is the first fantasy novel in the Garrett Files series. TunFaire is an old city, with the royalty and wizards uphill and the criminals downhill in the slums. Outside the city are the estates of the rich. In this novel, Garrett is an ex-Marine who has spent five hard years fighting the Venageti within the Cantard. After completing his enlistment, he hung out his shingle as a private detective. Now he has his home and office inside the city gates in the commoner section. Garrett has a partner in the detective business. The Dead Man had been killed four hundred years previously, but is neither dead nor a man; he is a four hundred fifty pound Loghyr whose body might be dead, but whose mind is definitely still alive. He can read the mind of anyone within a score yards or so of his body and can project thoughts into the minds of anyone within the same radius. He is also capable of other psychic tricks within that restricted range. The Dead Man is very smart and extremely well informed on historical details, but he is also incapable of moving on his own. Garrett is the active partner, gathering facts and reporting back to the Dead Man. The Dead Man compiles these facts and then deduces certain conclusions, often sending Garrett out to collect additional specific information. In this story, a friend of Garrett has died and the registered will appoints Garrett as one of the executors. Denny Tate had been a cavalryman in the Cantard and had been in the lucky regiment that overran a Venageti treasure caravan. Denny mustered out with a goodly amount of metal. When Willard Tate takes him into the basement to see his son's silver, Garrett finds much more than he expected. The basement contains one hundred thousand Karentine marks in silver and other metals. No way that could be Denny's share of the plunder. Willard explains that Denny had been trading in metals, buying gold when the price of silver is high and buying silver when the price of gold is high. Denny's will left most of the fortune to Kayean Kronk. Supposedly she is an old flame from his army days, who had kept writing letters to Denny after he was returned from the Cantard. After Garrett finished reading a few of the letters, he knew that he would take the job. Of course, he would have to return to the Cantard to find the heiress. Garrett takes Morley -- the half-darkelf -- and three grolls with him to the Cantard. Unhappily, Rose and Tinnie Tate end up sailing with them down to Liefmold, but Garrett makes a deal with the bargemaster to take the girls back to TunFaire. Morley and the grolls are seasick the entire way on the barge to Liefmold and then even more so on the coaster to Full Harbor. This story has elements of noir detective stories. It also has some obvious similarities to the Nero Wolfe novels, yet Garrett shows more intuition and independence than Archie Goodwin. Once they reach Full Harbor, however, the plot begins to resemble an

This is the first of Cook's Garrett series ("Sweet Silver Blues," "Bitter Gold Hearts," "Cold Copper Tears," "Old Tin Sorrows," "Dread Brass Shadows," "Red Iron Nights," "Deadly Quicksilver Lies," "Petty Pewter Gods," "Faded Steel Heat," "Angry Lead Skies," and "Whispering Nickel Idols"). It's an excellent, humorous combination of Fantasy and early Detective novels (Raymond Chandler is the usual comparison). What always strikes me about this series, and especially this book (since it's the first), is how Cook's writing makes it feel like the world he's describing actually exists (and has existed for some time). It's like the history, geography, and people are THERE and he's merely opening a window to their world. This is an excellent book which I highly recommend to anyone who likes either Fantasy or Mystery. I rate it at 5 stars out of 5. BTW: At the time of this review, this book is long out of print. It's tough to find anywhere. As an alternative, look around for the SFBC's "The Garrett Files." This book is part of that collection.

Most fantasy novels are not so deeply embedded in the mystery genre as this one is. Glen Cook has written a fine homage to the gritty detective novels of the 40s and 50s and placed it in a fantasy world with more oddball and interesting characters than you can shake a stick at. And, this includes the ever present femme fatale from the detective era. A couple of them in this case.While the fantasy part of the book seems to pull a couple of fixes out of it's hat when all seems lost, the book is so well written that I can't really quibble with it. It is a fantasy after all.If you like fantasy And detectives novels then you are in for quite an enjoyable ride. This book combines them both in a well structured plot line and Glen Cook has an easy reading style that will carry you through this book to the ultimate double-cross at the end. What do you expect? It is a detective novel after all.

Garrett is an ex marine turned detective living in the city of Tunfaire. He hates legwork, actually he hates any kind of work. His nearest friend is Morley Dotes, a half elf living in the dark side of the city. Garrett describes him as a bonebreaker and a lifetaker. Sweet Silver Blues is a bittersweet story of vampires, lost love, friendship and the war in the Cantard. If you even like fantasy you'll love this city.