Stalking The Unicorn [Paperback]

This enchanting blend of fantasy and hard-boiled detection, back in print after two decades, heralds a new series from prolific multiple-award–winner Resnick, best-known for his Birthright Universe series. On a gloomy New Year's Eve, recently bereft of wife and partner, down-and-out New York City PI John Justin Mallory is hired by Mürgenstürm, a little green elf who wants Mallory to track down a stolen unicorn. After gradually accepting that his client is not an alcohol-fueled hallucination, Mallory deftly takes on a shadow city of demons, leprechauns and gnomes even as he learns that his own future hinges on the unicorn's recovery. The crisp dialogue and imaginative setting will have many fantasy readers wanting to revisit Manhattan's magical side. (Aug.) ""
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"...good fun...What's interesting about this book, besides the lighthearted tone and wry humor, is how it overcomes my usual reservations about fantasy by blatantly flying in the face of everything that normally makes me want to roll my eyes...A big plus of the book is the very likable Mallory...a fun story when all is said and done, and I give credit to the author for making a palatable fantasy novel that even this hard-case fantasy reader could enjoy." -- SF Signal, August 12, 2008. "With a witty perspective on many aspects of city life, anyone who enjoys fantasy adventures in a more or less familiar urban setting will laugh their way through this wild entertainment." -- Gumshoe, August 2008 "Mike Resnick has created a fine character in Stalking the Unicorn and carried him forward. Mallory is a detective who would be a cliche if Resnick hadn't meant him to be one. He's every detective Humphrey Bogart or ever played. For me, a guy who loves detective stories (and especially 1940s noir pictures), this is the perfect blending of the genres. he's based on every successful detective who's ever made it to page or screen. That's one of the fun bits, finding all the stuff that you know Resnick put in his pocket from others' noir leavings .It's an awesome little thing. [Stalking the Unicorn] certainly reads better to the detective fan in me than the fantasy fan in me. Mallory is awesome. He's a real detective, a hard-bitten dick who does it all. I just love him, [in Stalking the Vampire] even more than I did in the first novel. So, there's no question that Mallory has more legs to him. Resnick could give us a long series of Mallory novels, and it'll never be Mallory that'll lets us down." --Some Fantastic, August 2008 "Urban Fantasy. Detective Wizard(s). Mafioso Sorceress. Vampire Hunter. P.I. in Fantasyland. Paranormal Romance. Whatever you call it, books with some or all of those elements is one of hottest subgenres of Speculative Fiction today. This just goes to show that Mike Resnick was ahead of the ballgame considering his first John Justin Mallory novel, Stalking the Unicorn, was originally published in 1987. Terrifically entertaining novel. a welcome re-addition to the Urban Fantasy subgenre that is so popular right now. Adorned with a terrific pulpy cover by Dan Dos Santos, the physical book has a great look and feel. Even better, Resnick and Pyr published simultaneously with this reissue, Stalking the Vampire, which is next on my plate. Hopefully, we'll see even more Mallory stories." --SFFWorld September 2, 2008 (also mentioned at Rob's Blog o'Stuff blog) "This ambitious fantasy combines three very British stories: an Arthurian fable, a Victorian murder mystery and a modern-day YA adventure tale - The hinted interconnections between the three tales are complex and fascinating - a rollicking ride." --Publishers Weekly, October 20, 2008 "This is light reading, but it is fun. The personalities of the characters are brought alive by their actions and words, rather than lengthy decryptions, and this is a skill only the best writers exhibit." -- SFcrowsnest.com, Issue 183, February 2009