Title: A Slight Case of Death
Author: Robert Lee Beers
Publisher: Robert Lee Beers
Buy Link: Buy A Slight Case of Death Here!
Rating: 
You Want To Read
Reviewed By: Janelle
Blurb:
Vampires don’t exist, do they? That is a question Private Detective Tony Mandolin finds himself pondering as the evidence piles up in a case involving a string of dead redheads and the usual dose of weirdness San Francisco has to offer. To complicate things, Mandolin has to deal with the perception that he has become the latest golden boy of the fog city’s crime boss. Then there’s his cross-dressing friend Frankie…Just another day in San Francisco.
Dive into an exhilarating new noir fantasy series where nothing is as it seems.
Review:
I am a big fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, and this story feels a bit like reading fanfiction. The rules governing the Fae are basically the same, Tony is a wise cracking PI with a talent for finding lost things, who is hampered by a corrupt police department, and questionable ties to the local Mob leader. The mob boss even has a tall, blonde warrior doing his dirty work against the supernatural.
The story itself is okay, but drags a lot. Tony spends a lot of time eating and sleeping, while the threats feel very nebulous and poorly thought out. The vampire is killing red-headed females, but the why is never explained. No one even asks. And the ‘game’ the vampire wants to play with Tony, likewise falls apart before it ever gets going.
Overall, the story isn’t original enough to stand on its own, and not clever enough to be homage.
It appears that Janelle skimmed rather than read A Slight Case of Death. It also appears that she has little to no knowledge of the history of this genre. If she had she would have noted that the vampire is not a bloodsucker and that the same fantasy elements in the Butcher books first appeared in works several centuries ago. Irish fantasy is not the sole property of one writer. She also would have read why redheads were considered tastier to this particular villain.
Randall Garrett, Rex Stout, Glen Cook and others all published similar styles and plots way before Jim Butcher, Simon Greene, myself and others stuck out toes into the noir fantasy genre. I would suggest that this site choose reviewers who actually read before giving what has to amount as a very dishonest review. Proper criticism is valuable, bad criticism based on someone being miffed because she feels her favorite’s territory is being stepped on has no value whatsoever.