Status Updates From The Dragon Done It

The Witch's Murder by Dave Freer & Eric Flint: A story from their Heirs of Alexandria setting. This is a fun little mystery to end on, a village witch almost killed by a mob and our heroes discover the truth.

The Detective of Dreams by Gene Wolfe: A French detective investigates strange dreams, but it's just an obvious Christian allegory, so I'm a bit disappointed.

The Enchanted Bunny by David Drake: An amusing portal fantasy story, though I'm perplexed as to its inclusion in this anthology--it's not really a mystery at all, is it?

The Adventure of the Pearly Gates by Mike Resnick: Turns out Sherlock Holmes DID die at the Falls, and gets enlisted to help solve a mystery in Heaven. It's OK.

The Seventh Chapter by Harry Turtledove: A Videssos story involving monkly celibacy LOL

The Case of the Skinflint's Specters by Brian M. Thomsen: This is an take on A Christmas Carol with a more mundane answer (or is it). It's fun enough for a short one like this.

The Black Bird by David Barr Kirtley: What the ever living fuck?! It's Sam Spade after the end of The Maltese Falcon, and then it gets weirder, and weirder, and weirder. Definitely the most creative one so far.

A Case of Identity by Randall Garrett: One of two novellas in this anthology. I've read this before in a Lord Darcy collection, and I love the strange alternate-history magical world. This mystery sure had time to shine at this length.

Fox Tails by Richard Parks: Now we get a "noir tale" of a Japanese investigator in a magical Japan. This one didn't quite work for because I think if you want the noir tone in this time and place, you have to lean into the ridiculousness a bit more.

McNamara's Fish by Ron Goulart: This was supposed to be amusing, but the characters and mystery were kind of boring.

Gunsel and Gretel by Esther M. Friesner: The witch who went after Hansel and Gretel is now a private eye in LA in the 1940s--why the hell not?

Alimentary, My Dear Watson by Lawrence Schimel: A Sherlock Holmes pastiche involving the disappearance of Lewis Carroll. Really dark.

Claus of Death by Michael M. Jones: A fantastic punny title! St. Nick is in the private eye business and solves a murder. Perfect for this kind of short story, since I don't think the concept could sustain a novel (especially when Nick can tell who's naughty or nice).

Doppelgangster by Laura Resnick: Mobsters get plagued by unusual deaths. This was a fun one! Definitely one of the more entertaining stories so far.

"The Whistling Room," William Hope Hodgson: I've read this before in a Carnacki the Ghost-Finder collection before. It's a scientifically-minded ghost-hunter essentially, but it's a bit boring really (published in 1910).

"The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds," Neil Gaiman: Finally, a story I could enjoy, despite the fact that it copies the noir detective elements of the first two stories. I think transplanting it to a nursery rhyme land made it a bit more fun, especially with the mystery in this one.

"This Town Ain't Big Enough," Tanya Huff: This is a story starring Huff's hero Vicki Nelson from the Blood Books. Well, at least it's not a cookie-cutter noir mystery like the first two, but I was a little underwhelmed by this vampire tale. Perhaps if I knew the characters better.

I'm rolling my eyes at the introduction here, as the editors say they wanted to add some stories by women, so they picked 3 stories. They apparently then stopped looking for any after that and so the OTHER 16 stories in the anthology are all by men. I noticed this with another Flint-involved anthology from Baen, "The World Turned Upside Down" which only had one story by a woman. 🙄