published 1979, Ace Books

Too Many Magicians is a fantasy/mystery in the best tradition of both those genres. It features the crime-solving team of Lord Darcy, a sleuth to rival Sherlock Holmes, and Sean O'Lochlainn, a forensic sorcerer, who together unravel the most tangled webs woven by those who practice to deceive.

In this episode of the Lord Darcy series, a master sorcerer is murdered in a locked room at a sorcerer's convention. It appears that only another master sorcerer could have accomplished the deed, but which one? Plots and counterplots abound as more murders are committed and secret agents are exposed. In best Holmesian tradition, hooded strangers are pursued through foggy London streets and mysterious bloodstains are puzzled over.

But this is also a fantasy, and its central plot deals with the Polish government's attempt to steal the secret of a magical device developed by Anglo-French sorcerers. This device, when employed during a military attack, causes enemies to be unable to use their weapons. It's Lord Darcy and Master O'Lochlainn's task to find out what this has to do with the deaths of a scholarly master sorcerer, an Anglo-French double agent, and a hotel worker.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Lord Darcy adventure series is its placement in an alternate universe (a couple of decades before the concept was popularized by the Mike Resnick short-story compilations Alternate Presidents, Alternate Dictators, etc.). Though the time period and setting recall Victorian England, in this timeline King Richard the Lion Hearted didn't die, England and France eventually were united, the Americas were more peacefully colonized, and the other major world power is Poland.

Garrett also slyly tips his hat to a few heroes when naming his characters; the Grand Master of the Sorcerer's Guild is Sir Lyon Gandolphus Grey, and I have it on good authority that Sean O'Lochlainn is Irish for John Watson. These and other small touches of humor add to the already delightful reading experience that is Too Many Magicians.

Review by Sara Lipowitz
Reviewed July 24, 1997

ISBN 0441816983

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