The Mysteries Hardcover – 4 Sept. 2014

This book is a blend of crime fiction and fantasy, following the progress of private detective Ian as he works on a missing persons case – a person who appears to be lost in fairyland/the Otherworld. The book is very well researched and draws heavily on folk lore surrounding fairies and tales of historical disappearances thought to be linked to the fairy world.I expected to love this book as I enjoy both crime novels and fantasy, but I’m not sure the blend quite worked here. One minute you were reading what seemed like a fairly standard detective novel, reading about the minutiae of the life of a private detective, and the next minute you had to suspend disbelief as the mystery pointed more and more towards fairies.The chapters alternate between Ian’s current case, his first case, and the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend Jenny, and are interwoven with tales of historical disappearances. While I did enjoy these, I found that the constant switching of time and place made the book feel disjointed and sometimes I lost track of where Ian was and which case he was investigating. I think it was this that made the book feel slow for me.Also, given that the disappearance and rescue of Peri followed the plot of an ancient legend, the ending was predictable and I didn’t feel there was much tension. I wasn't really bothered about what happened to Peri, as it seemed she'd gone to fairy land by her own choice. There was no 'villain', except for an immortal fairy who may or may not exist. I was more interested to find out Jenny’s story and what had made her leave – but we never get to find that out.While I love mythology and ancient legends and beliefs, and do think there’s a certain amount of truth in the old stories and things that we can’t explain in the world, I did find the plotline too far fetched. Normally when there’s a supernatural element in a crime novel, it’s upto the reader to decide the extent to which they want to believe the supernatural explanation or the real life one, but here no real world explanation is offered for Peri’s disappearance – she has gone to fairy land, and all the characters, with the exception briefly of Laura, believe this without question. It was portrayed as way too easy for people to access fairy land just because they wanted to – I’ve spent a fair amount of time exploring the ancient sites of Britain, and never had even a vaguely supernatural experience.I did enjoy reading about Celtic mythology and the beautiful descriptions of British scenery, and I don’t say that this is a “bad” book as such – probably just not quite what I expected. I would definitely recommend it more to people looking for a fantasy novel, not people simply looking for a good detective story – I think fans of realistic crime fiction will be frustrated. I’ve previously read a book of Tuttle’s short stories and loved it, so I think I’ll just stick to the short stories in future.

It's hard to marry a traditional detective story that includes activities by fairies, so fair play to Lisa Tuttle for carrying this off. The book begins slowly, and plods its way to the end without ever really picking up the pace. The storyline is hampered by interspersed chapters telling stories of mysterious disappearances which, as it gradually becomes clear, were all due to fairies. These stories start off being charming but by the end of the book it's all a bit too much. Then, the plot jumps between the current disappearance that the private detective is investigating and his back story. It's a little confusing and I found it a bit hard to follow, but the idea is an interesting one and for 99p, it's a good read.

For some reason, I thought this book had a recommendation from Neil Gaiman. That, and the intriguing black and red cover, were my two main reasons for purchasing.I later discovered Gaiman had recommended another of Lisa Tuttle's books with high praise indeed, but if he had read this one, this is exactly the sort of thing he would recommend to fans of his books. Seeing that he's my favourite author and being intrigued by the premise of the plot, with reference to sidhe, celtic folklore and a good, old-fashioned mystery for a private detective to solve, I got stuck in.The last time I was this gripped by a book was reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I loved the way the author intersperses the modern-day story with tales of people who have met fairy folk and disappeared in the past. This was a real page-turner that distracted me from work, household chores, you name it. I couldn't rest until the mystery was solved and felt sad to have finished the book. I'll definitely be reading all of Lisa Tuttle's other books - I'm really surprised this doesn't have more acclaim and a thousand more reviews - genuinely one of the best fantasy books I've had the pleasure to read!

Not usually the type of book I would read .....would liked it to have been a bit more in depth and descriptive as to where one of the main characters had been.Saying that an enjoyable read ....

'The Mysteries' is the most ridiculous book I've read in years, possibly ever. Even if you manage to suspend enough belief to accept the supernatural element - which I didn't - there are far too many coincidences for the rest of the plot to be plausible, and none of the characters are real enough for the reader to care about what happens to them.The quality of writing is okay at the beginning but became sloppier throughout, and I wasn't entirely convinced by the voice of the male narrator - I had to keep reminding myself he wasn't female. It seems the author may have realised this part way through, hence numerous subsequent comments and observations that served no purpose other than to clarify the narrator's gender.I found myself skim-reading the second half of the book so that I could write a review and move on to something more sensible.Michael Moorcock claims 'The Mysteries' is the author's best book to date. I can't imagine how dreadful the rest must be - and I won't be reading them to find out.Unfortunately I've read worse so I can't award only one star.1.5 Stars

If you rate a book by its 'unputdownability' then 'The Mysteries' stands at the top of the leader board. I appreciate that I clearly made up the word 'unputdownability' but I suspect you'll appreciate and understand what I've tried to convey. This book was so good that each page drew me in. So much so that when the unwelcome distractions of normal life forced me to put it down, my mind was consciously seeking the time when it could be picked back up and the tale revisited. If I had the time, I would not have wanted to put this book down until the tale was told and the journey ended. I found it that good. Many thanks to the author for weaving such magic.