Monsters (Fantasy Noir #1)
James Alderdice
ebook $2.99

As most people know, James Alderdice is the pen name of David J. West.  I reviewed his most recent novel a week or so ago.  Monsters isn’t part of that particular series, but it does kick off a nice fantasy-noir blend.

It’s a short book, so I’m not going to go into a lot of detail.  I don’t want to spoil the plot for you. I will tell you up front that there’s a cliffhanger ending, so if you’re waiting for the next installment in the brutal trilogy, you might feel the same way when you read the end of this one.

Tam Zphinx works as a Rat Catcher, which is slang for a private detective in his city.  One day he and his partner are visited by a beautiful woman.  She wants to hire them to retrieve a chalice her husband, a powerful nobleman, has taken from her and to find proof that he’s cheating on her.

In case you haven’t read many private detective stories, clients often lie.  Especially beautiful ones.

Things go downhill quickly for Tam and his partner.  First the partner is murdered in a rather grisly fashion.  I think that counts as going downhill quickly, don’t you?  Tam makes an enemy of a powerful Inquisitor.  More than one monstrous cult is trying to get their hands on the chalice.  They’re willing to kill Tam, or anyone else who gets in their way, to do it.

Alderdice gives a tip of his hat to a certain classic detective story.  I won’t spoil it for you by saying which one.  He doesn’t simply copy the plot into a fantasy setting and file off the serial numbers, though.  There’s plenty of action and originality here to satisfy fans who like their genres mixed.

I said there was a cliffhanger of an ending.  There is.  I’m eagerly awaiting the next book.