Mulengro: A Romany Tale

by Charles de Lint

A tale of magic and murder

The increasingly bizarre murders have baffled the police―but each death is somehow connected with Ottawa's elusive Gypsy community. The police are searching for a human killer, but the Romany know better. They know the name of the darkness that hunts them down, one by Mulengro .

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction Fantasy, Canada

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1985

About the author

Charles de Lint is the much beloved author of more than seventy adult, young adult, and children's books. Renowned as one of the trailblazers of the modern fantasy genre, he is the recipient of the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, conducted by Random House and voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100.
De Lint is a poet, folklorist, artist, songwriter and performer. He has written critical essays, music reviews, opinion columns and entries to encyclopedias, and he's been the main book reviewer for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1987. De Lint served as Writer-in-residence for two public libraries in Ottawa and has taught creative writing workshops for adults and children in Canada and the United States. He's been a judge for several prominent awards, including the Nebula, World Fantasy, Theodore Sturgeon and Bram Stoker.

Born in the Netherlands in 1951, de Lint immigrated to Canada with his family as an infant. The family moved often during de Lint's childhood because of his father's job with an international surveying company, but by the time Charles was twelve—having lived in Western Canada, Turkey and Lebanon—they had settled in Lucerne, Quebec, not far from where he now resides in Ottawa, Ontario.

In 1980, de Lint married the love of his life, MaryAnn Harris, who works closely with him as his first editor, business manager and creative partner. They share their love and home with a cheery little dog named Johnny Cash.

Charles de Lint is best described as a romantic: a believer in compassion, hope and human potential. His skilled portrayal of character and settings has earned him a loyal readership and glowing praise from peers, reviewers and readers.

Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best.
—Holly Black (bestselling author)
Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better.
—Alice Hoffman (bestselling author)

To read de Lint is to fall under the spell of a master storyteller, to be reminded of the greatness of life, of the beauty and majesty lurking in shadows and empty doorways.
—Quill & Quire

His Newford books, which make up most of de Lint's body of work between 1993 and 2009, confirmed his reputation for bringing a vivid setting and repertory cast of characters to life on the page. Though not a consecutive series, the twenty-five standalone books set in (or connected to) Newford give readers a feeling of visiting a favourite city and seeing old friends.
More recently, his young adult Wildlings trilogy—Under My Skin, Over My Head, and Out of This World—came out from Penguin Canada and Triskell Press in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Under My Skin won 2013 Aurora Award. A novel for middle-grade readers, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, published by Little Brown in 2013, won the Sunburst Award, earned starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and Quill & Quire, and was chosen by the New York Times Editors as one of the top six children's books for 2013. His most recent adult novel, The Mystery of Grace (2009), is a fascinating ghost story about love, passion and faith. It was a finalist for both the Sunburst and Evergreen awards.

De Lint is presently writing a new adult novel. His storytelling skills also shine in his original songs. He and MaryAnn (also a musician) recently released companion CDs of their original songs, samples of which can be heard on de Lin

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was first published in the early 80’s and I’ve read it several times since then. I still find it very enjoyable. I particularly loved Janfri’s character and Ola. I adored Boboko as well. I liked Briggs, although he was fairly misanthropic at the beginning of the novel, he really grew as a character. I did find it a little disconcerting to start reading a POV characters story, I’d start to like them and then they would die a fairly gruesome death. This occurred several times during the novel (really for a fairly short novel there was a disturbingly high body count). I loved that this novel was set in Ottawa, it is a beautiful city (I haven’t associated it with as much mayhem as occurs throughout this novel, that is for sure). I’m in Ottawa right now and I can’t say I’ve seen any ghosts though. I’ve been struggling of late to read, there have been a lot of stressful things going on in my life and reading is really an effort. Even this well loved book was a struggle for me and I had to take a break from it for a few days. But I finished it and now it is time for bed!!

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Several readers seem to have been put off by the fact that this is a horror novel when they are used to de Lint's stories of magical realism. I love horror, so what disappointed me the most was that this kind of story has been done many, many times before - Graham Masterton has practically made a career out of it - and better. Mulengro is a murder mystery revolving around a figure from Romany mythology, but it isn't very satisfying either as a police procedural or as a horror story. It's also one of de Lint's earlier works, so it's also not his best writing. Fortunately, he eventually realized this sort of thing wasn't his forte. If you like b-horror authors like Richard Laymon or Ray Garton (but without the sex) then this might be enjoyable; otherwise, skip it.

[Belinda Pepper · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites, I've read it several times. A murder mystery set in present day, but with creepy fantasy elements.

['Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!! Incredibly dark and classically Charles de Lint. Good viewpoint on the Romani and how mysterious their culture is.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles de Lint is a great author and I loved Mulengro, but I think not as good as Memory and Dream. It was a dark tale about a killer who needs to be stopped using old Gypsy magic. It’s always interesting when authors who are not of a culture write about it extensively. The copy I ended up with had an afterward about that, written maybe 20 years after the book was first published. In it the author says that he thinks that all writers should write about as many different people and places as they want to, while trying to represent people and places accurately and being respectful. He also recommends reading work by members of a group as well. This made me want to look up novels about Gypsies by actual Romani people. Maybe there’s a list somewhere?

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Exciting" is definitely the word for this book by Charles de Lint, published in 1985. The police in Ottawa, Canada, are baffled by bizarre murders in their city. Someone is killing off the gypsies--and the gypsies, the Romany, know this is a supernatural force--the Mulengro-- who is hunting them down... I liked the characters in this story, such as the hero of our story, Janfri. Interesting to have a gypsy hero ( and why not??) and de Lint gives us a good-and sympathetic- glimpse into the secretive world of the Romany. I think I learned something about their culture... The story is predictable in that it builds up to an explosive ending with the final showdown of good and evil. It is quite a showdown, worth that build-up to get there!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a fairly simple plot, stop Mulenegro's killing spree. He wants to 'cleanse' the Romani that have become too 'gaje'. His murders first attract the Ottawa police, at the same time the local 'kumpynia' of Romani find out as well and begin to flee to a safer spot.

Along the way we find a musician, a waitress, a writer and a hippy along with the witch, Ola and her talking cat. The characters are well fleshed out and it's easy to empathize with most of them. There are a few truly nasty ones as well. de Lint was one of the earlier urban fantasy writers, unlike many of the modern stories, his have many characters working together for a common goal.

There's a fair amount of gruesome deaths in this book, if you don't like horror, I recommend a pass. It's aged well and enjoyed rereading it

[Lorenza · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Charles De Lint. I was a little wary of going into this book. I am used to his other stuff and have not read the darker books. Usually when a writer takes on something different, the writing is pretty much the same and sometimes they can not cross that line. The book fails. This is most certainly not so with Charles De Lint. His darker writing is very much still him but completely different at the same time. It is dark and horrifying and absolutely wonderful. He always pleases.

[Chuck Ledger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The intro warns about the darkness of the book....and rightfully so. The horrors and the strength to overcome them are nicely balanced. Many years ago O S Card stated that what made Stephen King the greatest writer of horror was how he new how to give you just enough details to allow you to fill in the rest to frighten yourself. Charles DeLint does that very well in this book. No spoilers, but the book is not for the feint of heart.

[Mark Edlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantasy - de Lint took me in a different direction with this book. His previous fantasy novels have been gentle works on the interactions between our world and his wildly creative fantasy world. This book is dark, violent and occasionally quite frightening. Sure can tell he is not a dog person. Set in the Roma culture and its frequent poor meeting of the Gaje world.
No pharmacy references.
The book is set in the Ottawa area so too many Canadian references to mention.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good thriller and I enjoyed it greatly, but I wouldn't class it among de Lint's best novels. I had a hard time connecting with the characters, and at times this sort of seemed like de Lint was trying too hard to be gritty or Stephen King-esque. On the other hand, the use of Romany culture and de Lint's always-adept use of folklore raises this above your average thriller.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles de Lint is a hit and miss author for me. All of his books are from the fantasy genre which is not my favorite, but I'm able to suspend a little reality for them. This one was more enjoyable. Someone is stalking and killing the gypsies. The police are baffled, but the gypsies know the killer is Mulengro. He has the ability to summon evil spirits to do his bidding and let's face it, that's pretty hard to fight against.

The book focuses on Ola and Janfri, two gypsies who have the ability to defeat him together. However, they don't know each other. So a lot of the book involves their quests to find each other, the people they meet on the way, as well as little side trips into the local police trying to solve the crime. I thought that there were a lot of good elements of this story and I really enjoyed reading about some gypsy history. de Lint has a habit of drawing out the last battle of the book and it turning tedious instead of enjoyable, but that didn't happen here.

Unfortunately de Lint also has the habit of having WAY TOO MANY characters. Every person ever encountered in a book gets there own little mini-chapter, sometimes even two. And then you get confused trying to remember who was who and why you care about what they're doing. The only other complaint is that they used a lot of Romany dialect in order to make the book authentic. There were a couple of sections where I got bogged down and wasn't sure if a character was respecting another or insulting them. There was an appendix in the back, but I don't like breaking up the rhythm of the book.

I think that this is a great introduction to this author if you like the fantasy genre.

[Gregory Rothbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mulengro is seeking vengeance and purification of the Gypsies (Romany) who have gone astray in modern culture; will the Gypsies be able to stand up to this dark force.

I enjoyed the thought that everything is possible, and our eyes can't perceive everything mentality. The book's flow is one that is not easily put down. This book is a good examination of what is real and what is more real... Jeff can't believe his eyes. Modern science excuses this as him having a concussion. But the gypsies see another world... and their eyes have not been so conditioned as the non gypsies.

De Lint’s master stroke in Mulengro is, 360 degree POV, and shifting perspectives. He shows character motivation for all of his characters, none of the characters are flat-cut out props.

One even knows the motivation of Mulengro the evil one, and can't but help thinking, “hmmm maybe he is right to do what he is doing. Haven’t the gypsies gone astray in modern life, shouldn’t he want to purify the gypsies from gypsies who have gone astray." What does it mean to purify a race to make a stronger group?

Mulengro is addictive fiction, exploring the interplay between the life of the gypsy and the life of the modern man.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a long time to complete this book. Usually I smash books out in a week. I have been very very busy and distracted for a few months now, since the holidays.
Though I enjoyed this book, I found the entire subject was divine and mysterious, it still was just not my favorite. I did not run home each night to tear into it. which is sad, I am verrrrry fond of Gypsy! I reserve 5 star ratings for my favorite.
While I found only the 2 main characters are memorable, Some of the characters were one dimensional, nothing to feel sad about when they dropped like flies. I was like, OOps, oh well hes dead. thats ok. Who Is next. I really didn't care much when they died. Meh. That's never a good feeling!
The plot was not unique. It was very much, "here comes the big bad magical guy and lets poof him away with magic". But I wanted to know more about this big bad guy. I wanted to know when and why he became a villain, what is his backdrop? what makes him so unique that he cannot die and he is pretty much immortal?

This had to be one of DeLint's first books. I read a later book of his and loved it soooo much, it was chock full of character and detail.
While this was such a desirable subject, and a really fun read, it left me wanting more, rushed and incomplete. 4 stars !

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alas, there are things by Charles Delint that I've really enjoyed, and it's a shame this was not one of them.
It's really graphic. Sort of like Law and Order with black magic. The characters are not very interesting, except for the talking cat and the random hippie who just happens to appear out of the woods when someone like him is essential to the plot. And the plot, in the end, felt to me like a bit of a mess, with more than a few dead-ends here and there. Or maybe that was the impression I got from the fact that so many of the characters die horribly, thus putting to an end whatever little character arcs of theirs I was starting to get interested in.
Maybe I'm just not used to horror novels.
Anyway, I had to slog to get through it, which is never a good sign, nor is the fact that before the end I rolled my eyes more than once.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is, as the author's foreword suggests, quite a bit darker than the other book of his I've read. I still liked some of the spiritual elements and the philosophical texture of the author's writing, but this isn't a book for the faint of heart, and there is pretty copious violence and gore.

It wasn't a bad read, and it did pique my curiosity about the Rom, so the author succeeded in that endeavor. Decent fantasy novel, although the characters may not have been as well-developed as I would have liked them to be.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys this style of writing, mixing fantasy in with a little bit of philosophy and spirituality, and anyone who can handle the darker elements.

[Les. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books isn't the world's greatest piece of literature, but I rated it so hightly because [over ten years later:] I still find myself thinking about it. In my opionion, that's the mark of a good book - the way you find yourself thinking slipping into that 'world'.

[penelopewanders]

In a way I could almost have added "war story" as a label here as there's a major struggle between good and evil... I see a number of people on goodreads have labeled this "horror", but I'm not sure I agree. Yes, it's horrible what happens to the victims, but is this a horror story?
I have mixed feelings about this book. I was able to mooch it at a time when I when I was looking for books about the Rom and this somehow came onto my list. I appreciated the glossary at the back, as well as the comment about cultural appropriation added by the author years after the book's first publication (which was in 1985).
I struggled a bit with the surely realistic racism, and for longest time had difficulty settling into the story. I found Briggs to be frankly awful and he took up a lot of space for the longest time. I did enjoy most of the scenes with the Roma, Ola, Boboka, and Zeke..
A strange book nonetheless.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I love de Lint's Urban Faerie Tales, I have to hand it to him...he does good horror, too! And Mulengro has it's share of horror. I don't know exactly how accurate his portrayal of Rom life is, but I suspect it is is, from the very little I know for sure, more accurate than many writers'.

[Karin Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story with a large part of Romany lore. Beautiful language. Loved it!

[Lisa Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decided to reread this yesterday and yeah it is still as good as it was when I first read it back in the 80s. Okay some things are a little dated but then that is to be expected. This book was first published back in 1985 making it almost 30 years old. The characters are still strong and intriguing and it is interesting to look back at this and see where Charles de Lint went with his tales. He has always had a touch of the otherworldly. Sometimes it is dark like in this tale. Of all the characters in the book I think I like Boboko and Dr Rainbow best. While secondary characters they stayed true to themselves and both had important parts to play. Simple truths told out of extraordinary characters. It really isn't a wonder why I want to write as well as this author.

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mulengro was a fantasy novel set in the Romany culture. While not a bad novel, it wasn’t excellent either. While the book had many characters, through whose eyes we saw the word, it had but one plot that built to a crescendo which was then adequately resolved.

I found it personally interesting having lived next to Gypsies at one time and seeing how they lived outside of the system with a myriad of names and matching ID cards from a variety of states. However, my time with them didn’t leave me with the rosy view of them that this book portrays.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been reading DeLint's stuff for years before I came across this one. It's darker than his usual, but I liked it anyways. Or perhaps that's why I liked it? *shrug* The thing that made me love it, and makes me reread it regularly, is the journey to the end. Yeah, yeah, every book's a journey and a good author makes us enjoy the journey as much as the destination, but for me it was just... It was like I got to the end and all that came into my head was "Well, yeah, it HAD to end that way." y'know? No ambiguity in my mind. And an ending that satisfactory (if bittersweet) is a reader's reward.

[Shad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun if very dark book. It was interesting to see such a sustained story line after reading his short stories. I think he did a good job of building the suspense and mystery for the first half but the second half just kind of lost the intensity. There is also an interesting (2003) addendum to his afterword that speaks of his ideas about cultural appropriation. I'm not sure if I disagree with him or not, but I do respect him.

[Danny Bernier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very interesting with some very unique elements. Character development was so so. Some of the characters were completely useless. The author kept going back to them even though they made no impact on the overall story line. All in all this is a good read. Dark, morbid and entertaining

[Calcitrix · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was really dark for Charles DeLint. Dark in a way that made the usual mythology and storytelling fall short of what I would expect from him. In fact, I think I went into it hoping for something like a Newford book; perhaps that's why it didn't work for me.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I bought this larger version... MUCH prefer the cover by Dave Mattingly!

The book was OK... kinda early Newford as he was weaning off the horror books and trying to combine that fantasy and urban for the Urban Fantasy..

[Frank Taranto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark tale of the gypsies. A crazy WWII survivor gains the power of keeping the 'mule' of people he has killed and uses them to 'cleanse' the Romany people. Characters are interesting, mostly likable and all have their faults.

[Rhonda · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the world this novel was set in I didn't really enjoy the novel. I found the POV changes distracting and found several of the characters quite flat. For example, the police officers were not drawn in enough detail for me to keep straight which was which in my brain.

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always with De Lint's books, I was practically mesmerized. I love his urban fantasy! Unlike other urban fantasists, he doesn't need to rely on 'sexy vampire hunters' and all that other bullshit. Respek.