The Dwarves of Whiskey Island

This is the second book about investigative reporter Kline Maxwell in a magic-soaked Cleveland (DRAGONS OF THE CUYAHOGA is the 1st). This time he starts with a political story, the suicide of the City Council President. A phone tip makes him curious about why the suicide was committed. But when the tipster turns up dead before being able to spill the beans Kline finds himself once agin in the middle of the police and FBI, both who are investigating different areas of the case. It seems there is some involvement with the local Dwarf population. But then things take on a more personal twist. First Kline is the subject of some nasty visions. Secondly, his daughter is coming to the city and may be in big trouble. Now the forces behind the suicide are against Kline and his daughter. Kline has never been in more danger as it seems Hell itself is after him. But what does it want from him and how does he keep his family safe? This one is even wilder than the last one and set about two years later. The hard-boiled detective aspect is still the heart of the story. This time we get to see some of the more unsavory aspects of magic. Once again the author does not stoop to using magic as a cheap out but he also pulls out all of the stops in this one. The story moves a little faster than in the first book and it is almost dizzying. If you liked the first one you will have to check this one out. I want more!

The second in what hope is a series , by a writer that I think is under rated. The plot and setting are all standard stuff, but the way Swann uses them are the mark of a pro, you will want to read all his stuff.

I like this book better than its predecessor. I don't know whether that's solely because I've read far more urban fantasy since then and come to appreciate more about the genre, or whether Swann's writing has improved, or both. I suspect that a big part of it, however, is that this book is less fantasy, and more crime/murder mystery, which is a genre I like even better than fantasy. It's a very good mystery that happens to be in a fairly good fantasy setting, possibly an ideal combination for a genre-fiction junkie like me. A lot has happened out in our world since the publication of the first book in the series, "Dragons of the Cuyahoga." It came out in October 2001, obviously written before 9/11. In "Dwarves" Swann has managed to incorporate some of the changes in law enforcement in the US fairly seamlessly. That some of our cops are elves does not change the fact that there's plenty of the traditional resentment and non-cooperation between local police forces and the FBI; Homeland Security has to deal with such things as dragons immigrating through the Portal, and the City Council has to deal with dwarven equivalents of labor unions - it's a nice way to make some of these conventions fresh within the mystery setting. Within the fantasy elements of the story, I always appreciate it when fantasies have some sort of structure and rules, rather than the author assuming that since it's fantasy, nothing has to make sense or follow in a logical manner. Swann's magical creatures have rules and limits to their power, which is one of the things that helps the book play fair under the conventions of the mystery genre. In addition, I like the fact that Swann's Cleveland is a recognizable place. Some fantasy novels are set in real places but give you so little sense of place you wouldn't recognize it - Hamilton's St. Louis for example, doesn't seem to have any characters other than Anita Blake's circle and no other businesses but the vampire clubs; we wouldn't know it was St. Louis if she didn't happen to mention it. Swann's Cleveland, on the other hand, is definitely a real city - with politics, businesses, economic divisions between different neighborhoods, and lots of local color, including digs at professional sports. The plot will look familiar to mystery readers: reporter Kline Maxwell gets a call from a potential informant, who is then murdered before he meets with Maxwell. From there, Maxwell must determine not only who killed his informant, but what the subject matter is that the informant was going to tell him about. (Have you ever noticed, in the mystery genre, that when someone says "I can't tell you over the phone; you'll have to meet with me," it invariably means that they should've gone ahead and said something over the phone, before it's too late?) Swann has quite a way with a turn of phrase. Undeveloped suburban land attracts industrial parks "like a presidential campaign attracted unreasonable promises." And at the warehouses in those

Two years after the events in DRAGONS OF THE CUYAHOGA reporter Kline Maxwell of the Cleveland Press is amazed to find that he has fallen into another Fuzzy Gnome story - this time about Dwarves. Maxwell doesn't want to cover this story, but he soon realises that it has political implications and when the Feds get involved and threats are made against his family he doesn't see much choice but to go ahead with the investigation. This story is well paced and an enjoyable read. Its good to read an urban fantasy that doesn't involve a hard boiled noir investigator. While this is essentially a mystery novel, Maxwell doesn't go out of his way to know about the supernatural that surrounds him on a daily basis and in these books we learn some the harder magical facts of life as he does. For a nice light urban fantasy mystery these are a good couple of novels.