Product Description

Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable and notorious! She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty. Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal. In a world where the sun never sets on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world - and its only hope for justice!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63488 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 267 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Set in a New Amsterdam that's still a royal colony at the turn of the 20th century, this engaging dark fantasy collection from John W. Campbell Award–winner Bear (Carnival) introduces a tough, witty female sleuth. Abigail Irene Garrett is the perfect Victorian hard-boiled detective, with the added benefit of necromantic skills that make her a formidable forensic investigator in a world where sorcery is common. Teaming occasionally with vampire sleuth Sebastien de Ulloa, Irene cuts a figure of crime-fighting confidence through five of the six stories, grappling with demonic killers summoned for personal revenge or political intrigue, and plunging into wildly unpredictable adventures such as those recounted in "Lumière," a stunning blend of steampunk and eldritch horror. Bear's tales are not only ingeniously mysterious but also richly textured with details that bring the society and history of her alternate America to vivid life. Readers who like the grit of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels and the historical heft of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's vampire tales will find similar pleasures here. (May)
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From Booklist
The zeppelin bound for New Amsterdam in British North America leaves France in 1899, carrying the typically far-ranging group of passengers, including a famous American film actress, a Hungarian aristocrat, a writer from Boston, an attractive young couple seeking political advancement in the Pennsylvania colony, and young Jack, traveling companion of Sebastien, a well-known detective. Less well known is Sebastien's vampiric need for blood. Then, help! Is there a detective in the house? The blood thickens when Madame Pontchartrain, the group's eldest member, disappears, never having slept in her bed. The joy here arises from watching the story's twists and turns unfold, accompanied by speculation about who else on board may be "of the blood" and by Pontchartrain's penchant for opium. Once in the New World, Sebastien adds to his blood sources sorcerer Abigail Irene Garrett, who's actually an officer serving the Crown's Duke Richard; and the plot complexities multiply, as do the cast members, giving new resonance to the term characters in this fast-moving supernatural alternative history yarn that's just bloody well good. Scott, Whitney

Customer Reviews

Super Reader
A good old fixup I believe the author might call this. The name of the main character, Abigail Irene Garrett, is of course a homage to Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy series, and she has combined the detective and sorcerer pairing i that book into the one woman, here.

However, I am quite sure Lord Darcy would not have down trou and let his vampire partner (in any sense of the word you like) suck dinner from his groin!

Monsters and plots to deal with, and plots to make in this turn of the 19th century fantasy USA and Europe, in a quite well done collection of stories.

New Amsterdam : Lucifugous - Elizabeth Bear
New Amsterdam : Wax - Elizabeth Bear
New Amsterdam : Wane - Elizabeth Bear
New Amsterdam : Limerent - Elizabeth Bear
New Amsterdam : Chatoyant - Elizabeth Bear
New Amsterdam : Lumière - Elizabeth Bear


Murder, bloodsucking and detection by dirigible.

3.5 out of 5


Forensic sorcery monster murder triangle.

4 out of 5


The sharp end of political plot with a bit of monster transforming gear for AIG and fanged friend.

3.5 out of 5


Fenian plots : "It was an odd thing, to find one's self greeting a murderous sorcerer by name, making casual conversation while he helped one off with one's coat and escorted one to the usual place."

3 out of 5


Some blokey vamp action, before AIG decides to give the Crown job the arse and take up the possibility of being a Bostonian Consulting Detective. More dead people and not people follow.

3 out of 5


"You have another reputation as well, Lady Abigail. One as a sort of distaff Nimrod. A mighty slayer of monsters."

The aforementioned triple barreled lady, Sebastien, Jack and the ratdog have decamped to Paris for a little revolutionary air. However, the monster hunting skills will still be needed with the ghost werewolves of Paris and The Beast running around.

4 out of 5

Pleasing mixture of alternate history with mystery and fantasy
New Amsterdam is set in an alternate fantastical history, at the turn of the 20th Century. England still controls the American colonies, though tenuously. War with France looms, while many in America want independence. Lady Abigail Irene Garrett is a Detective Crown Investigator, working for the English government in the city of New Amsterdam. Her specialty is thaumaturgy - investigating crimes that use magic. Bear's debt to Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy stories is obvious - as she acknowledges with the last name of her detective. I first encountered this milieu is some short stories, in which Abby Irene solved a couple of crimes involving very highly placed individuals, including the independence-minded Mayor of New Amsterdam, and also Abby Irene's one time lover, Prince Henry, the heir to England's throne. Garrett's personal life is further complicated by her current love affair, with Duke Richard, the chief representative of the King in the Colonies; and by her growing relationship with Don Sebastien de Ulloa, a wampyr, and a detective himself.

Though incorporating short stories, New Amsterdam is finally a true novel. Curiously, the main character of the novel is ultimately perhaps Don Sebastien - though Abby Irene certainly shares center stage. As the book opens, Don Sebastien and his companion, a young mortal named Jack Priest, cross the Atlantic by dirigible, solving a crime on the way. Don Sebastien becomes probably the first wampyr in America. Don Sebastien is unconventional for his kind, cultivating real relationships with his "court", instead of using them as servants and sources of blood. His court, small for a wampyr, includes only Jack Priest, then Garrett, and also an American novelist, Phoebe Smith. He is indifferent, for the most part, to human politics (due to his long life), but in this book he is forced to take an interest. Jack is an agitator for home rule - both for the Irish and, once in America, for the colonials. Abby Irene is originally a loyalist to her King, and especially to Prince Henry, but the way the corrupt British government treats the various villains she unmasks drives her to what she considers treason. And finally Don Sebastien meets another wampyr, one he himself turned, and sees him mistreated by the authorities.

All this leads to a concluding section, after war breaks out with France - a war which might be turned to the benefit of the independence movement. But Don Sebastien and Abby Irene must first solve another terrible series of murders, now in Paris, and they must deal with another wrenching loss. And come to a decision involving their personal accommodations, as well as their political position.

This is quite an enjoyable book. As I said, in then end it works as a novel, with an overarching plot that holds together. But at the same time the sections are worthwhile independent stories, each with a murder mystery for Garrett and/or Don Sebastien to solve. So I suppose we must call it a fixup, or perhaps a "braided novel". Bear does a good job with the magical elements - the nature of the wampyr is well-used, and Garrett's magical abilities work well and consistently. Some of the mystery plots are strong though a couple are rather slight. But more important than the plots is the growth of the main characters. Abby Irene must resolve her conflicted relationships with the various men in her life, and grapple with her multiple loyalties. Don Sebastien's main issues are loyalty-based as well - what does he owe his "court", and former members of his court - and what does he owe "mortals"?

Creative and fantastic alternative history
For those familiar with the Lord Darcy series by Randall Garrett, this book is something of a tribute to that earlier set of tales with "forensic sorcery" and alternative history where modernity didn't quite happen. Even the heroine's name is homage to Garrett. Other wonderful throw-ins, such as the appearance of scientist Tesla and his fanatical devotion to pigeons, just make this a wild, fun read.