cover image Reboots: Diabolical Streak

Reboots: Diabolical Streak

Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin. Arc Manor/Phoenix Pick (www.phoenixpick.com), $12.99 trade paper (188p) ISBN 978-1-61242-138-4

Film noir runs smack-dab into space opera in Lackey and Martin’s sequel to Reboots, which populated an SF universe with paranormal creatures. Principled Humph the Boggart is a down-on-his-luck private investigator on the Mos Eisley–esque, downtrodden Planet Mildred when a case neither he nor his partners can resist walks into the office. Tasked with finding a wealthy socialite’s sweetly degenerate son, Humph quickly discovers there’s more to the case. Humph must use every trick known to Paras (paranormals) to thwart a dastardly group of Norms (humans) and resist the seductive Lori the Lorelei. The story’s debt to classic noir is clear as day, yet the undisguised pilfering from prior sources only adds to the innocent, nostalgic air. Eccentric, humorous characters and storytelling balance out occasionally abrupt scene transitions in this charming callback to the hard-boiled detectives of the past. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghost Literary Agency, Inc. (Mercedes Lackey). (Mar.)