The Mysteries

Lisa Tuttle's MYSTERIES is a wonderful bit of craftsmanship, an "urban fantasy" (if you have to categorize it) with more than a dash of Raymond Chandler to it. The main character, one Ian Kennedy, ex-pat American detective, has both past and current "missing persons" mysteries in his life, including a current case which might involve, well, fairies. What glistens here is the book's focus away from fairyland. The main concentration being on the interplay between the characters and their backstories (involving disappearances and what might-have-been), rather than wallowing in the details of the little people. This gives the magical more room to breathe and thus more impact. Each chapter in the story is separated by a short chapter taken from folk/ghost stories involving disappearances, a device which gives nice punctuation. And there is a nice tension between the main character and several of the female characters which is just right. The ending has a nice twist to it. Very nice.

Okay, technically it's not a comeback, but it's been a while since The Pillow Friend and I started to wonder if Tuttle had gone into retirement. Nope, she was plugging away at the brilliantly realized Mysteries. The book reminded me of Jonathan Carroll's better works (before he started trying to live up to his own reputation), but it's filled with enough layers and complexities that it becomes a real work of literature. It's a page-turning, fast-paced thriller, it's a fantasy novel (I never read fantasy, but loved this), it's a horror novel (yep, many scenes gave me the creeps), and in the end it's well-written, cleverly plotted damned good reading. This is the work of a great writer in top fighting form and I can't remember having read a better book in a long time.

I love this genre, but well written fantasy is not so easy to find. Usually I have to wait for a new DeLint, Blaylock, or Powers (and a very few others). But this author, who is new to me, just blew me away with this lovely story of a man who, having had a traumatic sudden disappearance of his father, now spends his life finding people (he is a PI). But some people don't want to be found; and some people may have travelled to the world of the Sidhe. I loved the end, even though it was indeed ambiguous. It is as though the main character has a sort of ADHD of the heart or of life... but it works. I would love to see a sequeal.

i thought this book was excellent,i loved the characters and the mystery , loved the little short stories of people gone missing in the past , and thought it was superbly written, i only wish author had website ,so i could tell her how much i liked it and to please write a sequel!

American Ian Kennedy is a private detective in London specializing in finding missing people. Fellow American Laura Lenski hires him to find her daughter Peri who has been missing for two years. Ian reads Peri's journal and talks to her former boyfriend Hugh; he realizes that once again he is dealing with a case of the Otherworld. When he first came to the United Kingdom, he was hired by Amy's mother to look for her daughter. He meets a woman who explains how he can keep Amy in this world since she already appeared to him asking for his help before disappearing before his eyes. Peri went willingly with Mider, a fairy lord who believes she is the reincarnation of his wife Etain, who was changed into a fly by the sorceress who loved him. Peri's true love Hugh believes in the Otherworld because he has the Sight and sees the fae when no other mortal can. He an Peri also met and dealt with Mider who used magic to make Peri want to leave Hugh and go to the Otherworld with the fairy. Ian, Laura and Peri return to the place where Peri disappeared but it is not Laura or Hugh who has the best chance of finding and keeping Peri but Ian who knows how to deal with fairy glamour. It has been a very long time since a Lisa Tuttle fantasy was published but it was well worth the wait. THE MYSTERIES is a subtle but powerful work that allows the reader to savor the lyrical prose and delight in the ways fairy interacts with mortals. Readers don't actually see the Otherworld as the author leaves that up to each person's imagination to picture it as they would like it to be. THE MYSTERIES is a special book that ensorcels the audience. Harriet Klausner