"eight novels that blend the darker side of fantasy with the dark side of detective fiction," including:The Manual of Detection, by Jedediah BerryRead about the other entries on the list.
In a bizarre city that seems stuck in a perpetually rainy day in the 1930s, clerk Charles Unwin is suddenly promoted to the position of Inspector at his monolithic detective agency. His job is to solve the disappearance of the agency’s star detective, Travis T. Sivart, whose absence may threaten to upset the balance of power in the city, and whose greatest cases might have been solved incorrectly. It wouldn’t be a detective story without numerous twists and turns, and by the time Berry’s surrealistic city noir reaches its conclusion, it’s unclear whether the city is even fully real, whether the Agency is on the level, or exactly who (if anyone) is on Unwin’s side. This weirdness just enhances a terrific mystery that’s really an examination of the very nature of mysteries.
The Manual of Detection is among Patrick Hemstreet's five top books for the psychonaut.
The Page 69 Test: The Manual of Detection.
--Marshal Zeringue
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