The Nimble Man , Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski - some days Amazon's recommendation feature really works. This is my first exposure to Golden outside of the Buffy novels and comics, and on the whole, I'm pretty pleased. He and Sniegoski have set up a world that's becoming pretty standard for the paranormal mystery set - vampires, demons, faeries, and other-worldly stuff running around in a world where knowledge of the Other isn't outed like the Anita Blake and Kim Harrison series’.

Bonus points for making Arthur Conan Doyle an especially long lived magician, and including a Golem - makes me crave Mignolia's B.P.R.D. Eve is slightly less inventive and continues the whole "curse of the powerful female" notion, but I'm ok with her so far.

 I'd compare it favorably to the Harry Dresden books and Simon Green's Nightside series. The plot's a bit clunky and rushed in points, but it's the first in a series, so I'm expecting it to get slightly better. Not a grand slam, but a solid home run.

Originally read March 2006