Death by Silver
By Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold
4/5
()
About this ebook
2024 Midwest Book Awards Finalist!
Mystery, Murder and Magic...
When an old schoolmate with a well-earned reputation for bullying hires metaphysician Ned Mathey to investigate his father’s murder, Ned turns to his friend and sometime lover, detective Julian Lynes, for help. Together, they must navigate a maze of deceit, danger, the pain of their past and a newfound chance to rekindle their relationship in an Edwardian London where magic is woven into the fabric of their daily lives. Can they solve the mystery at the heart of the first murder and the ones that follow to forge a new kind of partnership or will the past and society’s disapproval send them off on separate paths?
Winner of a Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ SF/F/Horror.
Melissa Scott
Melissa Scott is from Little Rock, Arkansas, and studied history at Harvard College and Brandeis University, where she earned her PhD in the Comparative History program. She is the author of more than thirty original science fiction and fantasy novels, most with queer themes and characters, as well as authorized tie-ins for Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Star Wars Rebels. She won Lambda Literary Awards for Trouble and Her Friends, Shadow Man, Point of Dreams (written with her late partner, Lisa A. Barnett), and Death By Silver, with Amy Griswold. She also won Spectrum Awards for Shadow Man, Fairs’ Point, Death By Silver, and for the short story “The Rocky Side of the Sky” (Periphery, Lethe Press) as well as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She was also shortlisted for the Otherwise (Tiptree) Award. Her latest short story, “Sirens,” appeared in the collection Retellings of the Inland Seas, and her text-based game for Choice of Games, A Player’s Heart, came out in 2020. Her most recent solo novel, Water Horse, was published in June 2021. Her next solo novel, The Master of Samar, will be out in 2023.
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Reviews for Death by Silver
66 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great world, with an interesting magical system, and a strong steampunk sensibility. I particularly like the vicious, roving plants. Heh. Also, hooray for gay romance, and man, boarding schools are the pits. Solid mystery, very entertaining.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A mystery novel set in an alternate Victorian England where magic is a normal part of life. Metaphysicians study magic and offer their services to the populace to do things like enchant a gate to unlock only for members of the household or ensure that the family silver isn't cursed. Fledging metaphysician Ned Mathey has been hired to ensure just that by the father of a schoolmate who tormented him at school. Ned takes the job, certifies the silver curse- free, and is stunned to learn the next day that his client has been killed by a piece of cursed family silver. He enlists the aid of another old school friend (and sometimes lover)--Julian Lynes, a private detective--to try to discover what happened.I love these "little bit of this, little bit of that" stories, where you get elements of different genres. This is a little bit fantasy, a little bit romance, and a lot mystery. The elements of the murder case, Ned's discomfort with the family who hired him (one of the sons treated both Ned and Julian appallingly at school--the extent of which is a plot thread, so I won't expound on it here), and Ned and Julian's relationship all come together nicely as the story unfolds. The world building is slight but satisfying and complete. I know there's a sequel, and I hope this will become an ongoing series, as I would happily return to this world and these characters again and again.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's always such a pleasant surprise when I enjoy the developing relationship in a novel as much as I enjoy the plot--usually one eclipses the other. This was a joy all over, and while not without its flaws (I found the flashbacks pertinent, but also jarring) it was smart and complex in its feeling out of human relationships--friend, lover and foe are never as simple as that.