Where Shadows Dance

Where Shadows Dance by C. S. Harris is the 6th in a series of mysteries set in Regency England. Her website describes the main character, Sebastian St. Cyr, as a cross between Mr. Darcy and James Bond. I'll buy that. Sebastian is young, smart, and rich enough to stand by his own principles. Ms. Harris is a smart lady and Sebastian is an intriguing character, which makes these books a lot of fun to read.

The thing I've been thinking most about since reading Shadows Dance is how Ms. Harris has kept the series interesting through six (or seven, since she's got the next one nearly done) books. Each book has its mystery, but there are story lines that evolve across books that make the whole series richer. I've read series that get tired after this many books, but I don't think that's the case here. Shadows Dance was more romantic that the earlier books in the series, and while that smoothed out some of the more interesting character kinks that I'd gotten used to, it made for a satisfying resolution of one particular story line. While they exist in a very different world, these books remind me of Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January series, both in the quality of the writing and the author's knowledge of time and place.

Discovery of the week was Right Hand Magic by Nancy A. Collins. This book was published in 2010 and is says right on the cover "First in a new series". Sign me up. I loved the scope of Ms. Collins' imagination. The main character, Tate, is a trust fund baby from New York who wants to be taken seriously as an artist so she moves to Golgotham when she finds a place with cheap rent. Golgotham is the New York neighborhood where magic is the main currency. There are interesting ideas at work here about race and class and finding your place in the world, and if the plot is a little predictable, I was willing to forgive because it was so much fun reading a fresh take on the urban occult genre.