Dead Man In A Ditch by Luke Arnold

I would like to thank Nazia from Orbit for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Orbit

Published – Out Now

Price - £8.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

Fetch Philips has nothing left to believe in. Which is why he's surprised when the people of Sunder City start to believe in him...

Rumour has it that Fetch is only one who can bring magic back into the world. So when a man is murdered in a way that can only be explained as magical, Fetch is brought in on the case. A case which just might unearth things best left buried...

Urban fantasy and detectives often go together not unsurprisingly a mystery works better in a city than a quest. Detectives have free reign to explore all aspects of society from corrupt top to criminal underworld. Add in fantasy and that’s not a bad combination. I was very impressed by Luke Arnold’s debut Last Smile in Sunder City (reviewed here) so time for another trip to see if Fetch Phillips has learnt his lesson in Dead Man in A Ditch…and no I can happily confirm he hasn’t.

Sunder City is a fantasy world with dragons, unicorns, werewolves and goblins all living together but importantly the magic died. Imagine elves suddenly aged hundreds of years in minutes or a werewolf stuck mid-transformation. It’s a world where the glory has faded, and people have to try to eke out a living a shadow of what they were. Fetch Philips was heavily but unwittingly involved in the Coda that ended this world but has decided to try and represent all non-humans as the Man For Hire, but he’s puzzled when he finds himself with evidence that someone is killing people with magic. Has it come back or is something else going on. Fetch once again faces he sins of his past as Sunder City reaches a turning point.

I again enjoyed the inventiveness of Luke Arnold’s world it’s a bittersweet world where the non-human races have started to try to get on with life. A society destroyed by human greed and it’s a faded beauty that makes you long to see some signs of life. This time we get noir style casinos, drinking dens and strange shadowy powerful people turning the strings. Tonally while we again get Fetch’s dry, sarcastic narration as he treads the mean streets; we also realise this is a detective still learning on the job. He makes mistakes, misunderstandings and gets into things over his head yet manages to keep us on side through his lack of arrogance and sense of moral responsibility. Arnold really tests him in this story, and I enjoyed him having to decide (and finally admit to himself) what is he really doing this all for.

My reservation was pacing it’s a novel that is clearly setting up the wider arc of the lost magic and those who seek it and those who wants the new world order to stay the same. I enjoyed how capitalists are as always the real enemy but there is a lot of Fetch travelling from one place to another and in some cases the plot didn’t really move on in the middle section quite as fast as I’d had liked. The narration makes this work most of the time, but I did feel like this tale was very much setting up the next instalment, which I will be looking out for.

Although not quite the same surprise factor as the debut I am still enjoying this series. Its refreshing to have a male hero who isn’t the cocky wisecracking lead (nope no idea who you think I mean). The series is inventive, funny and packs an emotional punch especially in the finale as Fetch faces the past yet again. Well worth you hunt this down.