Necrospect: Chronicles of the Wizard-Detective

Chronicles of the Wizard-Detective #1

by J.B. Markes

The Archseer has been murdered, leaving the Academy Magus—the world’s foremost center of magical learning—leaderless. It’s not that Isabel doesn’t care; she just has her own problems to deal with right now. Being slowly ripped apart from the inside by the very spells she casts, she’s running out of options.

Enter Gustobald Pitch, expert necromancer and self-styled wizard-detective. Shunned by the good wizards of the academy, he will need Isabel’s help if he is to uncover the plot, avenge the Archseer’s death, and remember exactly where he left his smoking pipe.

Necrospect is a light-hearted dark fantasy with just the right amount of quirk. So grab your wands and get ready! Dead men do tell tales.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery

248 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2017

Reviews

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Necrospect: Chronicles of the Wizard-Detective by J.B. Markes is a fantasy mystery together. It was a Kindle scout book. The plot was good and the characters fairly well developed. There is some suspense, humor, and good interaction between the main characters. One appears to be a clueless detective. An enjoyable read overall.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Promising, with some impressive twists. The idea of a necromancer detective is good, and the characters were well developed, though the viewpoint character, to me, seemed insufficiently motivated for the sacrifices she made. She also seemed insufficiently focused on her own problem.

It does read as if the author's first language is not English; there are quite a few muddled idioms, plus the occasional incorrectly punctuated bit of dialog and a few missing words (I noticed even more on the second read-through). I thought that referring to "the wizarding world" was a mistake; it immediately made me think of Harry Potter, and when you're setting a book in a magic academy, you should probably try not to evoke that comparison (particularly since there's not a lot of resemblance).

I did enjoy it, though, and I'd read another.

[Donna Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. The characters are so real and the storyline so believable you can't help but keep reading to see what happens next. The necromancer is shunned by the wizarding community Izzy is on his side from the moment she meet him whether he deserves it or not. A wonderful story, well worth the read.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written mystery. There isn't a whole lot of background on the characters, but you don't really need it. There is a web of deceit that has been well woven at the academy to cover up a murder and it is left to one young apprentice to figure out who was involved. There is a lot of detective work and you never really know who did it until the very end.

[Gypsy Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I was expecting imaginative Harry Dresden-style with bizzare/colorful characters, this was actually more Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett version). Gustobald was verySherlock with his anti-social crabby attitude and attention to detail while Isobel was definitely Watson in how the story is told from her perspective as a memoir in the future (which felt a bit jarring since she kept referring to things that hadn’t happened yet -mostly in how Gustobald has always been like this or done something that particular way) (she also felt like Watson in how she was always following around after Pitch, seeming out of her depth and having to do the menial dirty-work or be the personable warm questioner of the investigation because of Pitch being stand-offish, rude, and forbidding). However, the largest issue I had with this book was in fact Isobel herself. She’s an incredibly bland character with no personality. She just does things without any real emotion or has any past history. In fact, there was nothing really to make her female (other than a slight romance near the halfway mark). The story takes place exclusively on the school campus. The school was still very much like Hogwarts (but without whimsy). There was a potions department, and a divination department, and enchanting, etc, with heads of department just like the professors at Hogwarts, and the headmaster had been killed very reminiscent to Dumbledore getting killed. In all, it felt rather by the numbers, and rather dry and clinical as they went about their investigation, and antagonized the campus police. There was a further level of dryness as it also felt like a commentary on classes (which seems like it’s almost expected in anything set in the Victorians), with the magic users as being upper class, and the non-magical folk as being “commoners”.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murder and mayhem abound at a wizard academy when necromancer Gustobald Pitch comes to the school. The Archseer is murdered and Gustobald sets out to find the killer. He's a bumbling detective like Columbo, but also like the famed detective, he knows more about what's going on than he lets on. Assisted by apprentice Isabel Ives, he does what he has to to trap a murderer.

This was a well-thought-out and well-executed story. I read a lot, and this has to be one of my favorite stories of late. The fantasy world is vivid and the characters are alive (well, except for those who are dead). It was easy to get wrapped up in this story. I hated for it to end. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to solve a magical who-done-it.

I received a copy of this book through the Kindle Scout program.

[Jeremy Mifsud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updating review, lowering from 5 to 4

Original: It was a fantastic read! The characters are very well-developed and engaging and the story was very appealing. Will be looking forward to read the next book!

Updated: After thinking about it, I realised I was left with some questions... and most of them were not why, but how? Some parts of the story did feel rushed, the second half had less substance than the first. The characters were well-designed, but the story could have been constructed a little bit longer.

[SA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tongue in cheek whodunit
Blithely dark Magus murder mystery investigated by nefarious necromancer & apprentice manifestation mancer.

[brian miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I enjoyed reading this book and that's why I give it five stars. Good characters and storyline. Definitely recommend to fantasy lovers.