Review: Hot Lead, Cold Iron

Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A while ago now, I read (or tried to read) a book that shall remain nameless, which had the premise of a fantasy being acting as a detective in a this-world noir setting. I abandoned it because it lacked the wonderfully punchy language that, to me, is one of the best things about noir. (In fact, I was so frustrated that, in reaction, I wrote a short story set in a sword-and-sorcery city, but told in the style of Damon Runyon.)

Lacking in noir-ness is happily not a fault of this excellent book, in which a member of the Aes Sidhe, working as a private eye in 1930s Chicago, struggles against mobsters, technology, the politics of his own people, and inimical Italian witchcraft.

He struggles well, determinedly, and in a good cause, which is how I like my heroes. The prose, besides being suitably noirish, is competent, fluent and well-edited. There's plenty in place for a rousing sequel, while this story is wrapped up satisfyingly.

Recommended, and I will be buying more in this series.

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