LORD DARCY

TOO MANY MAGICIANS and MURDER AND MAGIC. Randall Garrett. Ace Books, 1966.

There are times when I just have to tell you about a book or two that you probably won’t be able to find. Perhaps you’ll stumble over a used copy, or maybe a groundswell of interest will bring the work back into print.

These books collect the bulk of Randall Garrett’s sixties-era Lord Darcy stories, works that represent a completely original niche that’s part fantasy, part science fiction, part detective tale. They are the fantasy mirror of Isaac Asimov's robot detective novels-- completely faithful to both detective fiction and the conventions of its genre.

Garrett presumes a world in which Richard the Lion-Hearted lives, conquers France, and encourages investigation and study of magic. Instead of an enlightenment era rebirth of sciences, this world has rational, codified magic in a somewhat medievalish social structure.

In this world we meet Lord Darcy, a detective who uses the classic principles of deduction and observation, plus the classic sidekick to whom he can explain it all. He just happens to do it all in a world where the rules are somewhat different from our own.

Garrett plays surprisingly fair; the rules of magic are consistent and logical and clear. Mysteries are not solved by any surprise bursts of legerdemain. His world allows for interesting twists on classic detective shtick such as a locked room murder, but displays all the logic and internal consistency of a science fiction work.

I can't give you a link, though I have seen used versions of a three-book-in-one that throws in Lord Darcy Investigates on top of these two.