Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I. #2) ★★★☆½

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Title: Bitter Gold Hearts
Series: Garrett, P.I. #2
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Digital Edition

Garrett is paid to consult on a kidnapping case for one of the rich and powerful folks of town.Everything seems to be just fine until someone murders the girl who was the go between, who happens to be related to the kidnap victim. Then the heir, who was returned, supposedly kills himself. A wagonload of gold has also disappeared. Garrett is then hired by the remaining daughter to ostensibly find the gold but to also find out what is going on.

Garrett figures everything out but has to reveal it all to the Head of the Family who has just returned from the war. She’s a Storm Lord of no small power and she ends up killing almost everyone involved to cover it all up so her “honor” won’t be besmirched. Garrett realizes what is happening in the nick of time and wraps things up neatly and presents the “evidence” to the other Storm Lords. They strip her of her power and the daughter inherits.

And that wagonload of gold? It disappeared, just like the Steward, who hired Garrett to consult in the first place.

Garrett sleeps with a lot of women. First, there’s the woman from the previous book, who is away for this one. Then there’s the cousin who ends up murdered and is the cause of Garrett really staying involved in the whole thing. Then there’s the daughter of the Storm Lord. Between all that wenching and the gallons of beer he consumes, I’m surprised Garrett hasn’t died from either syphilis or his liver giving out.

Other than bit of moralizing, I had a blast reading this. Garrett and some shady characters invade a criminal troll stronghold and end up burning the place down. It was violence and action and comedy and humor all in one situation and I loved it. Garrett does a lot of skulking around and I could have done with a little less of that, but eh, he’s a P.I., skulking is part of the job.

I really liked the ending, with the Storm Lord going full on murder spree and Garrett stopping her before she murders him and his friends too. I didn’t see it coming, so when Cook sprang it on me, I was quite surprised, as it meant the book didn’t end with a little “oh, I’ve solved things, lets go home now” from Garrett

I don’t think that I could tell you that the guy who wrote this series is the same guy who wrote the Black Company books. It’s not just the change in sub-genre (comedic detective fantasy versus dark fantasy) but so far, I’ve seen nothing related to or from the Black Company or the Dread Empire. Not a phrase, not a character type, not a situation. That is really good. After 10 books of the Black Company and almost as many with the Dread Empire, I like this change. I hope this tempo can be sustained for another 12 books.

I just realized that maybe I should be adding the mystery tag, as Garrett is private detective after all. But while I will be, these don’t strike me as mysteries. I don’t know if it is because I’ve been steeped in the Agatha Christie, Ellis Peters type of mystery for so long or what.

★★★☆½

• Sweet Silver Blues (Book 1)