Finished Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe. This is the second book in his series about Eddie LaCrosse, a sword jockey for hire (think private investigator).

In this one, Eddie is coming back from an assignment when Laura Lesperitt stumbles out of the woods right in front of him. Laura has been tortured and is desperately trying to escape some very bad guys. Eddie tries to help her, but the next thing he knows, Laura is dead, so is his horse, and he’s been thrown off a cliff to share their fate. Lucky for Eddie, someone finds him and takes him to the moon priestesses to be healed — and he vows to find who out killed Laura and why. From there, Eddie chases down one lead after another and comes into contact with everyone from dragon cult worshipers, to a powerful mobster, to a tough princess. Only one thing’s for sure, Eddie’s the kind of sword jockey who won’t give up unless he’s dead …

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Sword-Edged Blonde, and was happy that there were going to be more adventures with Eddie. He’s a great character, a tough guy who knows his limits and carries around a lot of baggage, especially about the women that he hasn’t been able to save over the years, like his childhood sweetheart.

But what I like most about the books is the tone — they’re just a great blend of epic fantasy and detective/film noir stories. Eddie is a lot like Sam Spade, except that he carries a sword instead of a gun. Eddie also has that same world-weary tone that you find in old movies like The Maltese Falcon, and his temper and smart mouth get him in more trouble than he can handle from time to time.

I didn’t think that the mystery/story in Burn Me Deadly was quite as good as in The Sword-Edged Blonde, which had a lot of terrific twists and turns that kept me guessing until the very end and had a very clever conclusion. Burn Me Deadly is a little more action-oriented than Blonde, which was more of a straight mystery. There’s also a murder in Burn Me Deadly, and the resolution/who did it seemed a little random to me — it didn’t fit in with the rest of the action that well.

The only real quibble I had was that there was no map. Bledsoe mentions a lot of cities/kingdoms, and a map at the front of the book would definitely have helped me keep everything straight. I hope there’s one included with future books.

But if you love old noir detective stories or are just looking for something a little different in the fantasy field, check out Bledsoe’s books. You won’t be disappointed. Thumbs up.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

Books in my TBR pile: About 20.