Randall GarrettBesprekingen

The limited cleverness of this story of psychokinetic rescue is very eroded by time as it is set in 1983 with missions to Mars and Venus and the possibility of interstellar travel and a wise and deep thinking president.

Enjoyable collection of murder mystery stories rehashed as fantasy tinged with an SF flavor -- which is how some of these stories managed to appeared in Bova's Analog. An alternate universe where King Richard ruled and eventually an Ango-French empire founded in magic settled in for the long haul. The first mystery, A Matter of Gravity (Analog 1974), while contrived, is the most clever. A locked room mystery where Lord Darcy early on announces he knows who did it but not why or how -- and that makes perfect sense at the end. The Ipswich Phial (Analog 1976) is more of a spy story with a rising Poland as the nemesis. An OK adventure but nothing that clever. I'm convinced that the The Sixteen Keys (Fantastic 1976) was meant to be printed with a floor plan. It's the weakest story with a resolution that is the kind of puzzle normally seen in one of those one-page Minute Mysteries. The Napoli Express (Asimov's 1979) announces its intentions up front. In terms of background it's a pretty direct sequel to the Sixteen Keys.

Recommended as lightweight entertainment.

A romp through a magical alt-present (1966) London where the Plantagenets still rule and magicians take the place of scientists and engineers. There are multiple murders and a various red herrings before the fish is netted.½

I concur with the general substance of the "reviews" below, and only add that I enjoy them tremendously everytime I reread them, possibly because I was a great fan of the "real" mystery writers that Garrett implicitly alludes to and borrows from.

At least two of the story titles are parodies of well-known thrillers or mysteries. (The Ipcress File & Murder on the Orient Express). See the Wiki "spoiler" for similar information.

Goodreads: Welcome to an alternate world where Richard the Lion-Heart did not die in the year 1199... where magic is a science and science is an art... where the great detective Lord Darcy and the sorcerer Sean O'Lochlainn combine occult skills and brilliant deductions to bring criminals to the King's Justice and thwart those who plot against the Realm. Welcome to a world where murder may be committed by magic most foul, but crime still does not pay - as long as Lord Darcy is on the case.

Wikipedia "Lord Darcy":... is a detective in an alternate history, created by Randall Garrett. The first stories were asserted to take place in the same year as they were published, but in a world with an alternate history that is different from our own and that is governed by the rules of magic rather than the rules of physics. Despite the magical trappings, the Lord Darcy stories play fair as whodunnits; magic is never used to "cheat" a solution, and indeed, the mundane explanation is often obscured by the leap to assume a magical cause.

Two more Lord Darcy novels, Ten Little Wizards (1988), and A Study in Sorcery (1989), were written by Garrett's friend Michael Kurland after Garrett's death.
The two titles were manifestly modeled on those of famous detective novels by, respectively, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. This is similar to the way that Too Many Magicians was modeled on a famous novel by Rex Stout (whose Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin have counterparts in the novel's universe in the Marquis de London and his Special Investigator, Lord Bontriomphe).
...
The strong relation between Lord Darcy and Master Sean O'Lochlainn in some ways recalls that between Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and his servant Mervyn Bunter. In both cases there is a successful detection team composed of a nobleman and a commoner, with a built-in social hierarchy tempered by a strong and long-lasting personal friendship; in both cases, the commoner partner is an extremely capable and competent person, highly appreciated by his socially-superior noble partner; and in both cases, the partnership started as a wartime relationship between an officer and an NCO, and carried over into civilian life. Garrett's debt to Sayers and Lord Peter Wimsey perhaps strayed over the line in "A Matter Of Gravity" in which the method of murder was essentially a direct copy of the method in Sayers' "Busman's Honeymoon."

Wikipedia (2021-03-28)
Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett (December 16, 1927 – December 31, 1987); pen names David Gordon, John Gordon, Darrel T. Langart, Alexander Blade, Richard Greer, Ivar Jorgensen, Clyde (T.) Mitchell, Leonard G. Spencer, S. M. Tenneshaw, Gerald Vance.

Goodreads added pseudonyms: Gordon Randall Garrett, Gordon Aghill, Grandal Barretton, Ralph Burke, Gordon Garrett, Blake MacKenzie, Jonathan Blake MacKenzie, Seaton Mckettrig, Mark Phillips (with Laurence Janifer), Robert Randall.

(see copy 1)

Sherlock Holmes with magic. Fun read.

There are three 1960s SF books written by Mark Phillips. The real authors are Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer.

Randall Garrett was one of the many successful SF pulp magazine short story writers. He had stories in over a dozen different SF publications in the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote several solo novels and a few with Laurence M. Janifer.

Laurence M. Janifer was a SF pulp magazine writer. He also went on to write solo novels but most of them were not Science Fiction.

The authors' three, Mark Phillips, books have the same protagonist and are called "That Sweet Little Old Lady", "SuperMind" and "The Impossibles". These are future FBI agent novels involving criminals with extra powers. Casual afternoon reads. Nothing notable.

I find them to be fun but very dated and a little too goofy.

There are three 1960s SF books written by Mark Phillips. The real authors are Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer.

Randall Garrett was one of the many successful SF pulp magazine short story writers. He had stories in over a dozen different SF publications in the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote several solo novels and a few with Laurence M. Janifer.

Laurence M. Janifer was a SF pulp magazine writer. He also went on to write solo novels but most of them were not Science Fiction.

The authors' three, Mark Phillips, books have the same protagonist and are called "That Sweet Little Old Lady", "Super Mind" and "The Impossibles". These are future FBI agent novels involving criminals with extra powers. Casual afternoon reads. Nothing notable.

I find them to be fun but very dated and a little too goofy.

A great story in the "sword and planet" genre. I enjoyed the main characters and the storyline was interesting. The writing was good and it was easy to read. Too many books become a chore to read.

Randall Garrett's classic fantasy detective makes for a fun read. Unlike many detective stories readers are given enough information that most of the time you have a chance of figuring out the answer from the clues. But the answer is never so obvious that anyone but a dedicated reader of mysteries will figure it out quickly--if at all.

For those who do figure out the answer on the first page, there is plenty of fun character interaction, a bit of political maneuvering and even a touch of romance to keep the story interesting.

Magic- and world building-geeks will appreciate the well thought out magic system and the pedagogal Master Seamus who loves to explain how and why magic works to anyone who asks. Since these explanations are often important to understanding the clues to the mystery, they don't slow down the narrative too much but your mileage may vary.

All-in-all a fun read for fans of fantasy and mystery.

dreadful cover. Nothing to do with the book at all! The book is great.

Great alternate reality fantasy.

Good book and even the silverfish enjoyed it as the edge of the cover has been eaten by them, when book was stored away. Bastards.

Really enjoyed this series. One of those works of fantasy that has become lost.

Ein netter Fantasy-Krimi = 4 1/2 Sterne.
Zum fünften Stern reicht es leider nicht ganz. Dazu bleibt mir Lord Darcy zu blass und konturlos. Er ist intelligent und kann gut kombinieren - aber was noch?
Die Hauptfigur steht hier nicht im Mittelpunkt, schon mehr der gute Plot und die schön gestaltete Welt.

Not SF and not that interesting to me. Great writer, and I have read some of his early works.
This book - the part I read - is not SF. I enjoyed a couple of his SF books but I just could not finish this.

Randall Garrett is a good writer who learned his skills writing for the 1950s pulp SF magazines. Starting at the age of 17 he sold dozens of SF stories under at least 17 pseudonyms. He also co-wrote many stories with Robert Silverberg. His specialty seems to be future detective mysteries with lots of science.

This story also fits that style. It's a pretty good story and I will likely read more Garrett books as I come across them.

An interesting vision of the future. I liked the way in which society was portrayed and the various philosophies. I did find the writing style extremely dry and boring though. Maybe this is the nature of these types of books as I've found quite a few older dystopian sci-fi novels/stories are simply great swathes of description and explanation of the world. Which is fine if you get super excited about world building, but if you actually want something to happen, then it is tedious.

Fun romp with telepaths spying during the 60's.

Pretty good SF by Garrett. He will never be one of the best Classic SF writers but still worth reading if you like SF books from the golden age.

This is a lost alien falls to Earth story, with less then great results for man.

There are three 1960s SF books writen by Mark Phillips. The real authors are Randall Garrett and Laurence M. Janifer.

Randall Garrett was one of the many successful SF pulp magazine short story writers. He had stories in over a dozen different SF publications in the 1950s and 1960s. He wrote several solo novels and a few with Laurence M. Janifer.

Laurence M. Janifer was a SF pulp magazine writer. He also went on to write solo novels but most of them were not Science Fiction.

The authors three SF books have the same protagonist and are called "That Sweet Little Old Lady", "Super Mind" and "The Impossibles". These are future FBI agent novels involving criminals with extra powers. Casual afternoon reads. Nothing notable.

I found this one to be fun but very dated and a little too goofy. Somehow it won a HUGO. It was originally titled "Brain Twister". Maybe I just was not in the mood for a tongue in cheek detective novel.

Excellent roman. Utopie et uchronie qui m'ont sorti de ma zone de confort. J'ai beaucoup apprécié l'atmosphère de ce roman.

Cute, and (for its time) very non-sexist story. Of course the two classically-beautiful characters end up together, but while it's their looks that start the connection (or hers, at least), that's not why they end up together - they actually talk, and like the way each other thinks. The mystery is interesting, if somewhat telegraphed. Snookums is interesting too - Garrett (or his characters, at least) missed some factors that would have caught my attention (he/it identifies with the mobile, rather than the brain?), but the concept is neat. I enjoyed it and am glad I read it, but think it unlikely I'll bother to reread.

These are, I believe, all the genuine Lord Darcy stores (there have been imitations). Lord Darcy was one of the pioneers of the fantasy/mystery combination which has since become popular, The stories actually got printed in Analog despite its "hard sf" reputation. The argument, I suppose, is that magic in these stories operates by clear rules, so arbitrary solutions are supposedly ruled out.The setting is an alternate history in which Richard the Lionhearted recovered from his wound (which judging from accounts would have been medically possible, if he had refrained from sex) and went on to settle down to be a wise ruler for many years and turn over his throne to his nephew Arthur, who again turned out to be a wise ruler (rather contrary to his hot-headed adolescence in real history) so the line of Prince John never got the throne. There is a reference to as great king RIchard in the fifteenth century who might be equivalent to RIchard III, though of course the real Richard III descended from John. The Angevin Empire controls Britain, France, Ireland, and colonies in America, but is engaged in a cold war with Poland which apparently stayed at its late medieval/early modern height (how is not explained, but one hint is that its crown is apparently hereditary, not elective as in the declining days of the real Poland).

Start with a base of Sherlock Holmes, add a drop of Lord Peter Wimsey, stir in a healthy serving of Brother Cadfael, and season with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell—it all adds up to the highly satisfying diet of Lord Darcy stories by Randall Garrett.

Lord Darcy is the Chief Forensic Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, in an alternate history where the British Empire in the 1960s consists of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and the New World. The Plantagenets are still in power, and the Church is still a visible and integral part of the culture.

The four stories that make up this collection are enjoyable not only for the mysteries that have to be solved, but also for the sheer pleasure of exploring this world that might have been. Elevators and guns exist alongside gas lamps, carriages, sorcery, and sword-play. I loved the mixture of medieval and Victorian England, and the way the Church was such a significant part of daily life.

This is exactly the kind of book I love reading for pleasure: quick moving, intelligent, imaginative, and filled with personable characters.

I look forward to reading the full length Lord Darcy novel, Too Many Magicians, and the final collection of stories, Lord Darcy Investigates.