Glen Cook: Garrett, P.I.—dealing with gods, wizards, and vampires
Imagine Dashiell Hammett novels where the private detective has to face crooks. Corruption. And, well, elves.
The Garrett P.I. novels star a private eye in hardboiled detective fiction—where the crimes involve gods, vampires, wizards, elves, centaurs, witches, and the like. Written by Glen Cook (also author of the grimdark military fantasy series Black Company), the Garrett private eye stories are totally for fans of detective fiction. (Just where most of the characters are from fairy tales and horror stories and every other kind of fantasy.)
In fact, readers note that—while these are fantasy novels—the books are way more about detective work than magic. Black Gate’s coverage of the series makes it clear that the author is a big fan of classic detective authors.
“John D. MacDonald was one of my favorites,” Cook told Black Gate. “Nero Wolfe has always been a favorite. I loved Raymond Chandler. I love Terry Pratchett (as who does not?). Not a massive Holmes fan, but have been reading some of James Lovegrove where he sometimes mixes in some Lovecraft.”
During the interview, they also discussed how much the author appreciated the classic 1941 movie version of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel—the movie that starred Humphrey Bogart.
“The Bogart Falcon is a favorite in great part because it’s so faithful to the novel,” Cook said. “A lot of the dialog is word for word, plus the casting was perfection. Too, I think one of the early Garrets was very loosely, an homage to the movie.”
Also worth noting:
“I’m not much of a horror reader beyond classics,” he said. “Poe, Wm. Hope Hodgson, H.P. Lovecraft, The King in Yellow, and the occasional, random title. I do like Kim Newman’s Dracula series.”
Garrett, P.I. series by Glen Cook
Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I. #1)
In a world where magic is real and danger lurks around every corner, Garrett finds himself in a race against time.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
It sounded like someone was knocking with a sledgehammer. I rolled over and cracked a bloodshot eye.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
It have a little trouble with my temper, especially when I have a hangover. I yanked the door open.
Invaded by dwarfs…
It should have been a simple job. But for Garrett, a human detective in a world of gnomes, tracking down the woman to whom his dead pal Danny left a fortune in silver is no slight task. Even with the aid of Morley, the toughest half-elf around, Garrett isn’t sure he’ll make it out alive from a land where magic can be murder, the dead still talk, and vampires are always hungry for human blood.
“Cook turns fantasy inside out.” (Locus)
Find Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I. #1) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I. #2)
Can Garrett save some power-playing beauties from ransoms and spells?
Ogre town was quiet as death—until we sprang our attack on the citadel of the human pug-ugly nicknamed Gorgeous. This cold-blooded killer’s pack of ogres had been wiping out some people I’d had a personal interest in keeping alive…
The Stormwarden’s children have been kidnapped and Garrett, P.I. is on the case. But caught between the bewitching beauty of a half-elf and the fearsome power of a horde of ogres, Garrett has to think twice before sacrificing all for a fortune in gold.
After all, even in this enchanted land, he’s only human…
“I would really recommend these books to other lovers of Cook’s work and Fantasy fans in general. They’re great.” (Whistling in the Dark)
Find Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I. #2) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Cold Copper Tears (Garrett, P.I. #3)
Can Garrett survive in a mixed-up town of gnomes and thugs?
There were three guys walking on air—all of them in old-time armor. As they throwing down thunderbolts, I headed for the safety of the manor.
I hit the doorway and skidded to a halt. Someone far worse than three three guys in armor was tearing its way in through the roof, going at it like the place was made of paper. A big, shiny, ugly, purplish-black face like that of a fangy gorilla glared through the hole.
Then it started ripping the hole bigger...
She was tall, blonde, and offering Garrett an irresistible fee to take a case that seemed open and shut. But in a town of elves and humans, thugs and swindlers—a place where magic and religion could prove an all-too potent mix—Garrett had learned to take a long, hard look before saying yes.
Garrett’s doubts are confirmed when the Grand Inquisitor comes looking for his help in the lovely lady’s wake. But even a hard-boiled detective like Garrett, with a Dead Man for an ally and the toughest half-elf in town guarding his back, can find that it’s too late to say no.
Turns out Garrett’s been fingered as the latest sacrifice to a long-dead god—and his only chance to save his neck is to solve the case…
“Down these mean streets not only a man must go, but just about anything else you can think of.” (Mystery*File)
Find Cold Copper Tears (Garrett, P.I. #3) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Old Tin Sorrows (Garrett, P.I. #4)
When his old friend calls in some overdue favors. Garrett feels like he’s committed himself to a corps of corpses.
I said, “I could have seen a ghost.”
“A what?”
“A ghost. I keep seeing a woman that nobody admits is there. Unless they’re pulling my leg. Which they probably are.”
Someone is trying to kill wealthy, retired General Stantnor—in a most lingering, painful, and maybe poisonous way. But Stantnor’s mansion holds a host of surprises for a human detective who thought he’d seen it all.
For while the general is dying slowly, his employees are losing their lives at a far speedier rate. And when some of the not-long-departed try to enlist their comrades in the growing legions of the dead, Garrett knows it’s time to call in his own troops—in the person of Morley Dotes, the toughest half-elf around.
With Morley guarding his back, Garrett’s got to handle—or gets his hands on—both the killer and the mansion’s two elusive beauties, who seem invisible to everyone but Garrett…
“Take a Chandler-esque detective and stick him in a High Fantasy world. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys hard-boiled fiction or classic high fantasy.” (BigManBigYen)
Find Old Tin Sorrows (Garrett, P.I. #4) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Dread Brass Shadows (Garrett, P.I. #5)
A trio of redheads and a treasure trove of sorcery plunge Garrett into the heart of a deadly hunt for power...
“The Book of Shadows is infamous in dwarfish legend. A book of magic. One hundred sheets of brass hammered paper-thin, bound in tooled mammoth leather, every page bearing a spell of immense potency. We have to find this book and destroy it before it can be put to use.”
Hidden somewhere in the city of TunFaire is a mother lode of sorcery—and everyone wants to find it. This prize is so rich, it makes even a hard-boiled detective like Garrett nervous.
Especially when his beautiful red-haired girlfriend is attacked because of it. Garrett’s thirst for revenge is quenched when two other redheads turn up at his front door—and he finds himself the center of unwelcome attention from every thug and would-be sorcerer in town.
Now, Garrett has to find what everyone is after—the legendary Book of Shadows, made of brass and holding secrets no mortal was ever meant to master—and make sure no one ever has the chance to work its spells on his unsuspecting and unprotected world…
“The books are vivid and well-written, with the city of TunFaire being vividly realized in both its politics as well as characterization.” (Before We Go Blog)
Find Dread Brass Shadows (Garrett, P.I. #5) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Red Iron Nights (Garrett, P.I. #6)
Blood-soaked blades have been taking their toll among the luscious lovelies in TunFaire.
“There is sorcery in it, Garrett. Grim, gruesome, ancient and evil sorcery. Necromancy of the darkest form. Dead men who have gone to the crematorium do not rise up and resume their atrocities...”
Garrett can be as civic-minded as the next guy—unless the next guy is Captain Block of the Watch—but the private eye isn’t sure he really wants to take on a serial killer psycho who does too good a carving job and never leaves any of the blood behind.
Still, having Block pay him for his services with lots of ill-gotten government funds, and having his own partner, the Dead Man, strenuously urge him to take the case, prove an irresistible combination for Garrett.
And so he begins a search that would take him from the lowest slums to the highest estates, from confrontations with magic-spitting enemies to run-ins with the king of crime’s wayward daughter, to a final encounter with an ancient evil that has once again been loosed on his unsuspecting town.
“A detective novel in a fantasy land is something I’m absolutely down for.” (Grimdark Magazine)
Find Red Iron Nights (Garrett, P.I. #6) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Deadly Quicksilver Lies (Garrett, P.I. #7)
The case was going fine. Until Garrett woke up in the mental ward…
It was dark out.
That did not help.
Somebody whipped me up side the head with a house. I think it was a house. Had to be a house. No mere man could hit me that hard. The lights went out—with me still trying to figure out who and why…
A damsel in a dress was Garrett’s weakness, especially when she had equipment in all the right places. Still, Garrett wasn’t sure it was worth his life to take on Maggie Jenn, the ex-king’s ex-mistress, as his client. Not in a kingdom where the biggest con artists weren’t human, magic could beat any weapon, and the local killers were built like tanks.
It seemed like a simple missing person’s case: a vanished teenage daughter, a distraught mother trying to track her down. But when a guy as well-connected as the Rainmaker was gunning to see Garrett permanently removed from the case, he knew he’d have to call in some big favors just to keep his head on his shoulders, let alone to find a kid who probably didn’t want to be found.
“Lively homage to Chandler and company, with plenty of suspects, sex, and corpses.” (Locus)
Find Deadly Quicksilver Lies (Garrett, P.I. #7) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Petty Pewter Gods (Garrett, P.I. #8)
With the sudden end of the war, returning soldiers are at odds with the half-breeds and immigrants who’ve taken their places in society. But Garrett has his own problems to worry about—with small-time gods forcing him to work for them…
“She leaned down, hoisted me like I was a doll, and flipped me down across the shoulders of her mount. She let out an earsplitting shriek of triumph, hauled back on her reins. Her unicorn reared, pounded the air with huge hooves; then were off at a gallop...”
There are some new gods in the town of TunFaire, but temple real estate on the Street of Dreams is at a premium. So the big gods on the block issued a challenge—find the “key” to the one temple still available. When two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett, he knows he’s in for it…
“A criminally underrated book series. Unlike most fantasy series, the Garrett P.I. novels focus more on the detective aspects of the story and less on the magical.” (Buchib)
Find Petty Pewter Gods (Garrett, P.I. #8) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Faded Steel Heat (Garrett, P.I. #9)
Garrett is finally home—but all’s not right with the world.
Investigating a group of human rights activists, Garrett is attacked by a group of thugs. But cleaning up, he discovers that an upcoming engagement party can help him infiltrate the upper echelons of the group’s society…
Riots between humans and trolls, elves, and other non-humans have plunged Tunfaire into near chaos. Garrett finds himself pulled into the game when a powerful gang of human rightists tries to shake down his employer and ends up caught in a conspiracy of hate that pits man against—everybody!
“A wild science fiction mystery that never slows down for a moment.” (Midwest Book Review)
Find Faded Steel Heat (Garrett, P.I. #9) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Angry Lead Skies (Garrett, P.I. #10)
Anyone else would have learned by now: When trouble comes knocking, don’t open the door.
“Grumbling, head aching, empty mug in shaky hand, I stomped toward the front door. Some soon-to-be-sporting an iron hook for a hand refused to stop bruising the oak with his knuckles. The air shivered with amusement that only rendered me more glum. Anything my partner found entertaining was bound to be unpleasant for me.”
There’s a reason why Garrett’s still in the P.I. business after all these years—he’s not one to learn his lessons. Maybe that’s why he lets himself get roped into being a bodyguard for Kip Prose, an obnoxious kid being threatened by creatures that can’t quite be described.
But before Kip Prose has a chance to explain what he’s done to get on the hit list of some nameless nasties, the precocious Prose is abducted, and the chase begins…
Find Angry Lead Skies (Garrett, P.I. #10) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Whispering Nickel Idols (Garrett, P.I. #11)
Garrett has to deal with a comatose crime boss and his dangerous daughter—not to mention religious warfare…
“He burned to death without setting fire to the place where he died.”
“How could that happen? Sorcery?”
“That would be everybody’s first guess, wouldn’t it?”
Sorcery, great or small, isn’t part of daily life. But the threat of sorcery is. Particularly dark sorcery. Because our true rulers are the wizards who infest the mansions on the Hill…
Garrett’s having a pretty good morning until, five minutes in, he finds a strange child named Penny Dreadful poking around his apartment. Before he can figure out who the mysterious urchin really is, he’s hired to investigate how an old crime boss ended up in a coma—leaving his beautiful, criminally insane daughter to run the family business.
The boss’s daughter has some lascivious designs on Garrett—and some deadly ones, too. But she’s not the only one dreaming up ways to finish off the endangered private eye—who now has to figure out why everyone is suddenly after him…
“Cook makes this blending of fantasy with hardboiled detective story seem easy, which it isn’t, and manages to balance the requirements of both genres superbly.” (Chronicle)
Find Whispering Nickel Idols (Garrett, P.I. #11) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Cruel Zinc Melodies (Garrett, P.I. #12)
In fantasy city TunFaire, no one is to be trusted—especially beautiful women.
One of John Stretch’s pals headed our way. Lugging a beetle as big as a lamb. He didn’t editorialize; he just dropped the monster when I didn’t offer to take it. He headed back to the wars.
Playmate said, “Hey, Garrett, whack that thing with something. It ain’t dead.”
It lay on its back. Its legs were twitching. Its wings, ditto. Then it stopped struggling . It seemed to be assessing its situation.
“Garrett!”
It flipped. It faced me. Big brown jaws clacked.
It charged…
When a pack of gorgeous women knock on his door, Garrett knows it’s too good to be true. The leader of the group is Alyx Weider, the daughter of the largest brewer in town. Her father and friends are opening a new theater in TunFaire and the lovely ladies are there to persuade Garrett to help get rid of the paranormal parasites living in the new construction.
Garrett agrees because after all, it means free beer and the company of these beautiful girls. What else could a man want? But Garrett doesn’t realize the drama he’s stepping into…
“Cruel Zinc Melodies has an interesting mystery, intriguing characters, and a truly original fantasy world that melds the magic and decadence of high epic fantasy with the grittier elements of ’40s detective novels. Glen Cook’s writing still has zing after twelve novels, so fans of the series should be well satisfied, and newer readers who enjoy this will have a large backlist to explore.” (A Green Man Review)
Find Cruel Zinc Melodies (Garrett, P.I. #12) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Gilded Latten Bones (Garrett, P.I. #13)
For Garrett, P.I., loyalty and love come a close second to survival…
“You could walk away from this with nothing but your bruises. If you’re the stubborn sort, though, it’s a safe bet you’ll spend time healing up so you can in a few years helping reclaim the Little Dismal Swamp.”
“Shit. Just kill us now.”
Garrett’s attempt at domestic bliss with the fiery Tinnie Tate is sidetracked when he waylays a pair of home intruders and learns they’ve been paid by an unknown source to kidnap Tinnie.
But as Garrett rushes to find out who is trying to push his buttons, his best friend is attacked. Now, Garrett has to track down both malefactors.
Unless they’re really one and the same-in which case Garrett might be next…
“Cook brings a dose of gritty realism to fantasy.” (Library Journal)
Find Gilded Latten Bones (Garrett, P.I. #13) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Wicked Bronze Ambition (Garrett, P.I. #14)
Garrett is getting tangled up in the worst sort of laws. In-laws.
He was short. He was ugly. Troops of non-human adventurers had enjoyed themselves swinging through his family tree. Most must have been ill-tempered and eternally suspicious because their descendant was in a bad mood and suspicious all the time.
The ugly little man commanded more genuine hurt-you power than almost anybody but the queen of the underworld. He could intimate the King himself, and all the sane people on the Hill. Irk Deal Realway and you could fall off the stage of the world forever.
Irk him badly enough and he might arrange for you never to have existed at all.
Garrett is set to stow his wandering heart with his fiancée, Strafa Algarda. But for Garrett, even true love comes with its share of headaches—namely, the Algarda family.
Strafa’s family needs Garrett’s unique skills in the worst way. Rumors are spreading that someone is organizing a Tournament of Swords—a brutal contest that magically compels the children of sorcerers to battle until only one is left alive. The winner will absorb the power from those he has killed and thus become a demigod.
Strafa and her family want to protect her daughter, Kevans, from being forced to take part in the lethal contest…and they’ve asked Garrett to find out who is organizing the tournament and nip it in the bud. The only problem is that finding the culprit is most likely impossible. But the Algardas are used to getting what they want….
Find Wicked Bronze Ambition (Garrett, P.I. #14) online:
Bookshop.org (which also supports your local bookstore!)
Related links
Hilarious Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series by Kevin J. Anderson
Kim Newman’s new horror mystery novel teams up Boris Karloff and Raymond Chandler
Dieselpunk Detective Noir Q&A: Dan Willis + Complete Arcane Casebook Series
New from Michael Moorcock: 1930s mystery for fans of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Who
Reading Mike Mignola’s comic book ‘Joe Golem: Occult Detective’ in one omnibus
Complete Love-Haight Case Files by Jean Rabe, Donald J. Bingle
Complete Rivers of London / Peter Grant Books By Ben Aaronovitch
More from Monster Complex®
A private detective that has to face crooks, corruption, and—well, gods, vampires, wizards, elves, centaurs, and the like. These fantasies are totally for fans of detective fiction.