Burn Me Deadly

Starred review from September 14, 2009
Proving that 2007's The Sword-Edged Blonde
was no fluke, this sequel gives every evidence that Bledsoe's combination of sword and sorcery with hard-boiled detection will have a long and successful run. Eddie LaCrosse, a former noble who gave up his title and now works as a freelance sword-jockey, is flagged down by a damsel in distress, Laura Lesperitt. Before LaCrosse can get Lesperitt to safety, they are ambushed, an encounter that leaves her dead. When he recovers, LaCrosse's search for those responsible for the murder brings him into contact with powerful thug Gordon Marantz, the king's Special Office of Domestic Security and a dragon-worshipping cult. Bledsoe effortlessly draws readers into his created world and manages to stay true to both fantasy and mystery traditions.

July 15, 2009
Bledsoe follows up The Sword-Edged Blonde (2007) with another genre-blending novel featuring Eddie LaCrosse.

Eddie comes upon an injured woman on the road and offers to give her a ride. It turns out she's on the run from some very bad men who ambush the pair, kill her and leave Eddie for dead. It's the same setup as Mickey Spillane's 1952 noir classic Kiss Me, Deadly, with one major difference: Eddie gives the woman a ride on his horse. He's no modern PI, but"a freelance sword jockey" in a medieval world that will be familiar to fantasy buffs. His attitude is pure Philip Marlowe ("he was about as subtle as a punch to the nose"), yet the anachronistic language somehow works as Eddie's action-packed investigation leads him to a mysterious dragon cult with connections to gangsters and royalty. Aficionados of tough-guy mysteries will find much to enjoy, and fantasy fans will appreciate the swordplay and the fully realized medieval society Bledsoe has constructed. Best of all, it's not necessary to have read the first installment to enjoy this one.

An entertaining, well-crafted melding of fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2009
The second in the fantasy noir Eddie Lacrosse series (The Sword-Edged Blonde, 2007) finds sword-for-hire Eddie rescuing a damsel in distress on a deserted road, only to get them both captured a few miles later, learning only that her name is Laura. When Eddie comes to, hes been left for dead, his beloved horse has been killed, and Laura has been tortured to death. Despite his injuries, Eddie is immediately on the case trying to find Lauras killers. Whatever secrets Laura was hiding are dangerous indeed, Eddie concludes, after a kings magistrate shows up along with the most notorious crime boss in the region, and a wandering priest and his band of dragon worshipers soon set up shop in an abandoned whorehouse. Theres way too much going on in this sleepy river town for Eddies taste, making him all the more determined to get to the bottom of things. The pure fantasy setting may turn off some noir mystery readers, but try luring them into the genre-bending mood with Butchers Dresden Files series about a wizard for hire in modern-day Chicago.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)