Menagerie à Trois by R. J. Hore Review from Goodreads

L.T. Getty rated a book about 11 hours ago Menagerie à Trois by R.J. Hore Want to Read This is probably my favorite of the series thus far. Even though I enjoy the journeys to far away and distant lands, in this novella, Randy stays close to home as he has three seemingly unrelated cases - and because we're in a grimy fantasy noir, it's up to our hero to piece them together and figure out what his clients aren't telling him before greater powers get involved. The characters are a mixed bag, because we see some recurring (Mae, Bertha) and plenty new ugly mugs as we once again have an unexpected antagonist of a demi-god - but he's not the real bad guy. Randy isn't super brilliant, putting complicated patterns together, instead we see him hitting the street and interviewing people (always with his puns and quips) and despite that he's a mongrel - he's a scrapper willing to get things done and help out the least fortunate of his clients, and not be at the beck and call of the one who paid him the most. Speaking of Rich Jerks - one of Randy's clients is a haughty high elf, who while not the most complicated character, but if you've ever had a moderately difficult boss from a higher social class you'll recognize him. Other than that, we get our standard fare - that the world could be scrubbed and still come across as grimy, with every sort of imaginable species rubbing elbows, though Randy is usually among the lower class schlubbs. The writing is standard Randy narration, but the way that the plots interweave and generally seeing Bertha shine is what probably bumps this to the top of my favorites in this series. Anyway - you don't have to read the series in order, but if you're interested in a quick, pun-filled romp mystery through a grungy steampunk world, I say give it a shot. If you're looking for the pure elements of a murder mystery and things like gnome bodyguards or zeppelins would irk you, it's probably not your cup of tea. Like · Comment