The Lancelot Murders

Fantasy/Murder mystery by J.M.C. Blair

If this book is any example, the legend of Arthur is undergoing some considerable rewriting nowadays.
The Lancelot Murders introduces us to the legendary characters with more human failings than were ever seen in the original legends:
* An increasingly disillusioned Arthur tends to drink too much.
* Guenevere, who is a non-stop schemer and plotter (mostly plotting to yank the throne out from under her estranged husband) is also shown as someone who likes her men BIG and DUMB ...
* and this leads us to Lancelot, who appears to have the I.Q. of a fig.
Blair's Merlin -- my favourite character in the book -- is very similar to the Merlin in Walt Disney's Sword in the Stone: grumpy but shrewd and somebody you wouldn't hesitate to go to with a problem.
And there is no magic -- not a smidgen -- in this version of the legend.
Blair's Merlin is a scholar and researcher, seeking to build on the knowledge of ancient civilizations, who gets increasingly annoyed when people refer to him as a great wizard or sorcerer.
I had some doubts about whether this book belonged in this blog. However, the Arthurian legend as a whole almost qualifies as a fantasy, as historians and interested laypersons have squabbled for decades over whether he really existed and if so, who was he?
So between that ... and the rather startling anomalies in the story ... I figured it fit nicely in here.
As for startling anomalies ... at the beginning of the story, Arthur is advised that a messenger has arrived carrying mail.
Mail?
Then one of the commanders of the guards refers to an 'intelligence report.'
Come again? Is there some Arthurian version of the CIA here?
Also note that the commander in question is a woman.
However, the author makes no claims that this is even remotely historically accurate. A different author, Peter Telep, in the introduction to one of his books, says the Arthurian legend contains anachronisms and contradictions that are maddening to authors.
Blair takes advantage of this to give us a lightweight retelling of the legend with Merlin as a Dark Ages Sherlock. Merlin alone makes it well worth reading, but if you can get past the out-of-time oddities it's a fun read overall.

Ghost of a Chance

Supernatural mystery novel written by Yasmine Galenorn
How would you react to a translucent figure hovering over your bed in the wee hours of darkness?
If you’re like most people, it would probably involve a screaming exit from the bed.
For Emerald O’Brien, however, it’s just an annoyance.
Emerald, divorced mother of two children and a lifelong psychic trained by her “Nanna,” runs the Chintz ‘n’ China Tea Room (“Not Tea Shoppe, with the cutesy extra pe, but Room”) in the small town of Chiqetaw, Washington. Recently deceased romance author Susan Mitchell can’t speak but she can write ... her name and her plea: “I was murdered by my husband, but nobody knows. Help me.”
The official report says Susan died after slipping into a diabetic coma. But she was hospitalized four times in the previous year for low-blood-sugar seizures, which suggests a certain sloppiness on her part. Susan later appears to Emerald's son, Kip, followed by something dark, formless and evil.
Ghost of a Chance is the first of what is often called the ‘Chintz ‘n’ China series’ which features Emerald O’Brien. I enjoyed it well enough. It’s well-written with a good pace and I found the characters believable. Emerald struggles with problems common to divorced mothers everywhere -- including a disappearing and deadbeat husband.
However, I have to say it's also a fairly light read. I didn't find it to be the type of book that grips you to the point of letting dinner burn because you can't put it down.
Still, I like the addition of the supernatural -- the real thing, not a prank gone wrong. It adds a twist to what might otherwise be a basic mystery story.
It's not every day that a murder victim comes in person to plead for justice.