Murder in Tarsis

Dragonlance: Classics #1

by John Maddox Roberts

02 Who killed Ambassador Bloodarrow?

When the Lord of Tarsis finds himself with a politically volatile murder on his hands, he turns to the three most expendable inhabitants of the city of a solution. A mercenary, a poet-assassin, and a thief might not be everyone's first choice for detectives. But they find they're quite good at bringing murderers to justice.

Perhaps a little too good . . .
Who killed Ambassador Bloodarrow?

When the Lord of Tarsis finds himself with a politically volatile murder on his hands, he turns to the three most expendable inhabitants of the city of a solution. A mercenary, a poet-assassin, and a thief might not be everyone's first choice for detectives. But they find they're quite good at bringing murderers to justice.

Perhaps a little too good . . .

Genres: Dragonlance, Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, Mystery, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Crime

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

aka Mark Ramsay

John Maddox Roberts is the author of numerous works of science fiction and fantasy, in addition to his successful historical SPQR mystery series. The first two books in the series have recently been re-released in trade paperback.

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating is 3.5 stars.

This is part of the Dragonlance world. This book is basically a murder mystery novel that takes place in a fantasy genre setting. In this one, barbarians and the people of Tarsis are not getting along. A barbarian is killed within the walls of Tarsis and this might be the cause to start a war. A small group is hired to find the killer before this happens.

I liked the idea of a murder mystery in this setting. It was a nice change of pace from the usual band of heroes who go on a long journey with the fate of the world in their hands. I enjoyed the characters although there was nothing new here. I believe what I enjoyed the most from them is their dialogue as their conversations had a refined polish to them. The author did an excellent job with the mystery aspect. He had enough suspects that could be the culprit and as the book progresses we share the investigation process. My only complaint is the actual culprit. I think the author tried to get too cute with the murderer and tried to make it too big of a shock. It didn't work for me.

This was a nice read in this world and I was pleasantly surprised as this is a new author for me. If you are looking for a fantasy novel with epic battles or much yielding of magic powers, this is not that book. This book is your typical murder mystery albeit in a different environment.

[Diana Sandberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover gives the impression this is a “stable” writer: “DragonLance series” it says, and, inside, proclaims DragonLance to be a registered trademark of TSR, Inc, blah, blah, blah. Other books with similar titles listed within have different authors. Nonetheless, this was reasonable entertainment. Sort of a D&D mystery story. Stock-ish characters, but not unbelievable, and I could say the same about the setting. The author certainly did his best to arrange more work for himself, as the characters who have become companions over the course of the story ride off together, seeking further adventure…. Anyhow, not bad, not great, one of those beach books.

[Jasher Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has to be one of the best books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It wasn't just a fantasy-adventure but it was a fantasy-adventure-mystery which made it a whole lot more entertaining. I have to admit that I didn't expect the murderer to be Boreas at all. :) Have a great day and go and buy this book RIGHT NOW!

[Aurlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Todennäköisesti yksi huonoimmista murhamysteereistä, jonka olen koskaan lukenut. Toisen tähden kirja sai Rennen sinnepäin tehdystä käännöksestä. Käännös aiheutti paljon hilpeyttä ja kirjan loppupuolella haittasi muutamassa kohtaa ymmärrystä. Lukupiiri saa selittää minulle muutaman asian, jotka jäivät epäselväksi.

[audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sweet baby emus, what a mess. Plotholes you could drive a behir through, poor pacing, more plotholes, and some snappy dialogue. Do not want.

[Sohvi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Olen aika varma ettei yksikään murhamysteeri ole tätä tylsempi.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Misterio y detectives en la Dragonlance.
Hay muchas formas de leer los libros de la Dragonlance. Podemos intentar hacerlo cronológicamente según las eras em Krynn o cronológicamente en las eras de la Tierra o según los vayamos consiguiendo o como lo hice en esta ocasión, una combinación entre lo que pude encontrar y el primer volumen de una serie, en este caso los “Clásicos”, que de hecho caen en la categoría de “otros libros” pues no son parte de lo que llamaríamos la historia principal, en la cual podemos colocar series como Crónicas, Leyendas, La Segunda Generación, El Ocaso de los Dragones, La Quinta Era, La Guerra de los Espíritus. Esas series pueden ser vistas como un tronco con la historia de Krynn y sus sucesos más apremiantes, mientras que los otros libros son ramificaciones en esa línea principal.
Tal es el caso de este libro, “Asesinato en Tarsis”. Aquí la cuestión es que esta ramificación es de las que más se alejan del tronco.
“Fijaos em nosotros: ¡un mercenario incapacitado para encontrar empleo, um asesino que ya no es capaz de asesinar, um hechicero que ha renunciado a la magia, una ladrona y un par de bárbaros proscritos!”. Esta es la descripción que los personajes principales hacen de ellos mismos en algún momento, así que entre los principales sólo tenemos humanos; em otros momentos tenemos una gully, algunos enanos y claro, un dragón por ahí, y la historia se desarrolla en Tarsis después del Cataclismo, básicamente pocos elementos que hacen que esta historia esté dentro del universo de Dragonlance. Un elemento que me llamó la atención fue cierto monstruo que aparece del cual no recuerdo haber escuchado hablar nunca en Krynn, sin embargo, aparte de todo esto, la historia es bastante interesante, es muy entretenida y más que una historia de fantasía, este es un libro de detectives, lo cual no suele ser muy común en esta serie.
En general el autor sigue la fórmula usual de los libros de detectives, tenemos la presentación de los personajes y del problema, las claves que vamos recolectando juntos, después el clímax y el desenlace, y así como muchas de esas historias, el desenlace es bastante precipitado, todo sucede al final, tanto la explicación de la situación como el desenlace. De hecho sucede tan al final que me estaba causando angustia pensar como el autor iba a resolver todo em las poquísimas páginas restantes. Increíblemente sí lo resuelve de forma bastante satisfactoria y muchas cosas que pensé en el transcurrir de la narración que no tenía sentido ser exploradas se juntaron para tener sentido. Personalmente, prefiero las narraciones en las que el clímax se puede desenvolver un poco antes y después del desenlace tener las postrimerías y atestiguar las consecuencias de los hechos.
En suma, es un libro entretenido que recomiendo, pero está muy alejado de la historia principal de Dragonlance, por lo tanto, no afecta el momento en que sea leído si les interesa esta serie.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty good...I liked it more than "Murder in Halruaa". I'm not sure why this was on a list of Forgotten Realms books, but I have read cross-overs of these two worlds before so I assumed there would be a bit of that...I don't think I can identify if that happened, it seemed to me that it didn't. So unless it was very subtle, I don't think this had anything to do with Forgotten Realms...

But I digress.

Pretty good story. Again, the mystery was okay, but when magic is involved, the author can really make things as sneaky as they want. Read like an adventure plot. There were some fun side stories about a horrible black dragon and the folly of some young adventurers and how one decision can affect your entire life.

Over all, it was fun.

[Summer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great book, but there was a behir! The behir fight was really cool, I've loved those things since 2e. The dwarves were great. There was also an assassin whose target put him under a geas, forcing him to protect him from harm - I loved that plot in Nightfall, and it's still good here, though John Maddox Roberts doesn't go into as much detail about it. I can forgive the rest - the cartoonish gully dwarf prophet, the fact that this is a Dragonlance book, and the mystery that just consisted of the protagonists walking around a city listening to various people lie.

[Geordie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A murder mystery set in the fantasy world of Krynn. There was a lot of fun in this book, the pacing was good, and the characters were entertaining and clever. The only big negative, is that this book is too heavy in the coincidence and contrivance. It can't be helped, I guess, both are common in murder mysteries, and in fantasy - combining the two means even more than would be expected. Still, if you can suspend your disbelief, it's fun and occasionally surprising, well worth the read.

[Mighty Sea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flawed. The plot is ... bad.

I am huge fan of the SPQR series of mysteries written by John Maddox Robert. And I play D&D! So this book should be a slam dunk, right? Alas. I'm giving it three stars because the pages turned, but I am not really satisfied by the book. Unless you really love Dragonlance and the world of Krynn I think this is a pass. Can I give it 2.75?

The book is a bout an ethical assassin, a hard bitten mercenary and a pair of allies in the form of street urchin thief and a hedge wizard who are tasked with solving a politically important murder. Unfortunately they don't really collect a lot of clues and the ending is forced. There is some amusing dialogue, but Roberts has done better even there in lots of other books.

Disappointing.

[Michael T Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and entertaining read! I hadn't heard of Roberts, and this story isn't breaking any barriers or anything, but still, I dug the story and felt like it played fair, so I don't regret reading it at all. Not sure if anyone ever did more with this group - the ending certainly makes it feel like the beginning of a series that never materialized - but who knows, maybe there's a short story or two hiding out there somewhere.

[Lewis Emmas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look into the city of Tarsis but beyond that the story feels a slight bit convoluted with an ending to match. The main cast of characters are fun to follow despite the garden path of the story.

[Michaell Baumler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Borrowed from C.R.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.

[Tom Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, rather enjoyable but oddly set in dragonlance. The time frame this takes place is rather unclear. But the story and characters were fun and interesting.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining , with likable characters, but the plot is very weak

[Mikaël · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a name like "Murder in Tarsis", I was expecting a generic Agatha Christie ripoff but no, this was surprisingly good.. even though the ending was dull and predictable

[Georg Gänzle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An sich ein gut geschriebenes Buch. Der Kriminalfall ist gut gemacht und meines Erachtens auch gut durchdacht. Aber das hätte auch gut auf die Hälfte der Seiten gepasst. Manchmal war mir das alles zu sehr auf Länge gestreckt. Positiv gefallen hat mir die Beschreibung der Stadt und die Stimmung in der Stadt kam auch sehr gut rüber.
Leider passt nicht alles gut zur Geschichte der Drachenlanze Saga. Beispiel: Vor dem War of the Lance sind Drachen Kreaturen aus Geschichten und Legenden. Dass dann vor allem in Tarsis einer auftaucht passt einfach nicht zur Geschichte der Welt. Und so gab es immer wieder mal Sachen die nicht so richtig in die Welt passen wollten.

Fazit: gut geschrieben, aber zu lang. Kann man lesen, gibt aber viele deutlich bessere Dragonlance Romane.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading this one today! I’ve always found Tarsis fascinating and tragic, so I enjoyed a glimpse of it while it's not embroiled in the War of the Lance. The murder mystery element was fun although predictable (but I spend a lot of time watching mystery shows, so I tend to guess correctly what’s going to happen), but the characters seemed a little interchangeable at points. I occasionally lost track of whether Nistur or Ironwood were speaking and found that it didn’t matter all that much who had said what. Altogether an exciting adventure though, especially as I’m a big fan of the one-off stories in Dragonlance.

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite a good yellow novel, even though you couldn't really guess who was the culprit at the end. I mean, it does not give you the chance to do so, but it is nice. It gave me an idea for a D&D quest, even though I must change some details...

[Jouni]

in Finnish

[Nico Peeters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unknown

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite novel concerning secondary characters in the Dragonlance settin (at least, from what I read they have only been secondary). Roberts did an excellent job with this story!