When a magical plague is released in a Depression-era New York soup kitchen, private detective Alex Lockerby finds himself in a desperate hunt to catch a madman before he can strike again.His investigations lead Alex to a famous thief, a daring heist, and the search for a mythic book of ancient magic, but none of that brings him any closer to finding the man responsible for the massacre. With the … massacre. With the police and New York’s Council of Sorcerers desperate to find the culprit, Alex becomes a suspect himself, thanks to his ties to the priest who ran the soup kitchen.
Now Alex has his book of spells, a pack of matches and four days to find out where the plague came from, or that authorities will hang the crime squarely on him.
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–“Dan Willis is an awesome writer and you should buy this book.” – NYT bestselling author Larry Correia.
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1930s style private detective mysteries with magic… nicely layered and well constructed with beautifully drawn secondary characters. I binged through all five books in just over a week. Very enjoyable.
I’ve been aware of Dan Willis for some years now. He’s always been a good writer, but I have to say, I think he’s upping his game. This twist on a noir detective of the 1930s is brilliantly done, and involves what I can only describe as “magepunk” — an alternate reality so much like our own it’s uncanny, but where magic is real. Practitioners’ occupations are determined by what kind of magic they can do…but not everyone CAN. Or should.
If you like a good detective novel with a twist, check out In Plain Sight right now!
Highly recommended!
Magic ‘Mike Hammer’
Alex is a private detective and a runesmith in an alternate 1930’s New York where magic is part of everyday life. Alex gets pulled into multiple mysteries that he needs to solve or the consequences to him and the city could be dire.
The book is like a mash-up of Merlin and Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, with the latter being the larger part of the book; so much so I could almost hear the saxophone theme from the TV series playing in my head while I read this. It also reminded me of Larry Correia´s Grimnoir Chronicles.
The ambiance was really good, and it felt like I was transported back in time and living in the 1930’s. Alex the lead character was also a likable character. The pacing of the story kept me turning the page wanting to read more.
The small issue I had with the story is as it was written as a PI mystery, half the fun of these types of stories is figuring out how they will solve the mystery. The problem was the solution at times was Alex creating or using a new magic rune to solve things which made it impossible to guess correctly.
In Plain Sight provides a good foundation for upcoming books in the series and I look forward to reading them.
Excellent book. Excellent series.
We are introduced to Alex Lockerby, a private detective who has attitude like Philip Marlowe, is trained to observe like Sherlock Holmes and does rune magic like Declan O’Carroll. Not only does this author give us a character worth following, he also gives us a mystery that teases our curiosity, strong females who test our backbone, a historical background that tests our knowledge of the era and a story that fascinates. I think that Arthur Conan Doyle would have approved of the use this author made of his work. I know that I approve.
The Arcane Casebook books are terrific page-turners! I read the first five books in a week, and I can’t wait for more.
I’m a big fan of the old mysteries written by Raymond Chandler and Dashell Hammet so I really enjoyed these books. Willis manages to keep the spirit of Noir alive and still created a magical world. It’s a fine tribute to the pulp mystery writers of the period in which the series is set (Between WWI & WWII). The mysteries are pretty good as well.