In this world, certain paranormal people are known as Unorthodox; and, the highest ranking witches are government Auditors with a wide range of spells for their use along with a great deal of power and prestige. Our protagonist, a “mediocre” witch named Grimsby who entertains children at a pizza parlor type business, is not an Auditor. He thought he could be until his mentor classified him as mediocre and put a note in his record that he wasn’t Department material. Since then he dresses up in costumes and uses his mediocre talents to entertain ungrateful children and obnoxious parents. Until the day his not-lamented mentor was murdered, he never thought the Department spared a single thought for him.
A retired Auditor named The Huntsman leaves the comfort of his retirement to investigate the murder of the woman he still thought of as his partner; and the meanest, toughest witch he’d ever known. It seemed incomprehensible that Samantha Mansgraf could have been murdered without leaving behind copious numbers of dead bodies; that anyone had the power necessary to kill her and not leave a trace just didn’t seem right. But when Huntsman saw the body and the secret message she left for him, traced in her own blood, he realized he couldn’t rest until he figured it all out. And it started with Grimsby.
Poor Grimsby is first assaulted by Auditors who finally decide he’s too incompetent to have killed Mansgraf; and then he gets to meet the Huntsman. Huntsman, aka Mayflower, is there for his own peace of mind. Apparently, Mansgraf was so important to Mayflower that he had to see for himself just why she named Grimsby her killer, in her own blood. Either Grimsby is more than he seems or he had help; either way, Mayflower was going to track down and dispose of the killer or killers. Starting with poor Grimsby.
Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately, depends on how one looks at the succeeding events), Grimsby manages to convince Mayflower of his innocence and ignorance. Grimsby is elated as he imagines that all his current troubles with the Department will evaporate once Mayflower makes his report. What he didn’t anticipate was that Mayflower wasn’t working for the Department and until someone found the real killer, nobody was going to listen to either of them. And investigating the murder of the most powerful witch known, in the company of a possibly psychotic former Auditor, and up against what must be a most heinous villain does not bode well for Grimsby’s continued existence.
I admit I was mostly interested in reading this book to see how Jim Butcher’s offspring could spin a story. And it is obvious that such a debut book was only possible with father’s input; it was expertly crafted but the story had to have come from young Butcher’s mind. And it was well done. The plot was a little convoluted but that’s not unusual for a mystery and I didn’t get lost in it. The characters were a bit of problem for me. Normally, the reader can usually pick out a hero and have someone to root for during the story; but at first, I couldn’t decide if Mayflower was intended to be that hero or if it was to be Grimsby. And the reason for my hesitation was the character of Grimsby himself. He wasn’t attractive or sympathetic; in fact, he was rather pitiable. The mcguffin in the story is the not-very-well-described reason for Grimsby’s lack of witchy talent; he was injured as a child and is somewhat handicapped. This was mentioned several times to illustrate why Grimsby’s magic was limited; but I felt the author could have used this more effectively to allow Grimsby to overcome the limitation and shine. I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t used in this story; maybe it’s being held in reserve to be used in a sequel.
But Mayflower didn’t really look like a hero either; his initial description was also pitiable and he spent his time being all growly and irritable. So, yeah, no hero for me. But that doesn’t mean the story didn’t do well; it did. It was entertaining and had none of the usual tripwires the reader stumbles across in most debut novels.
I also want to know more about other Unorthodox creatures than just witches. We get a small taste from the “comic mascot” of the story; a strange little creature who attaches himself to Grimsby as a sort of familiar-type character. He was a lot of fun and could add a much-needed dollop of humor to any sequels. So, yes, this book is a worthy effort and I truly hope young Butcher continues in his father’s footsteps; more Butcher stories will be welcome. ~~ Catherine Book
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