[Nimea]

Imagine a world where magic is not too uncommon and where magicians range from amateurs to most powerful. Normal people do know that magic exists, yet they are not all and everywhere used to it. Some (depending on the country) even are suspicious of it.
Maybe even magic granted by Gods is not uncommon. Gods are not 'believed' in, because they have influence in the world more obviously than through miracles, and therefore people 'know' they exist.

To give an example (from books and worlds I know): Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance or James Barclay's novels or even Steven Erikson.

Now, on such a world, how would a murder (or other crime) go along?

Not necessarily a crime with magic involved. But to solve the mystery?
Well, I am wondering about this for quite a while now. I remember NOM's comment in 'his' ;) thread that battle tactics etc. would be influenced by magic and therefore differ from what we know from history - so surely crime and detective work, too . . . or am I wrong there?

What would you say about this?
Or does anyone have an example? A book in which this is dealt with . . .

(I can only think of the 'Murder in ...' books set in the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance worlds. But I have not read them, so can't say anything about them.)

:)

[mattman587]

The first book that comes to mind is Steven Brust's books. The Jheng book deals a little with this subject. And primarily Brust is always dealing with the issues of being able to track magic with magic. Also, Brust writes in the form of almost mysteries. His storylines run along the lines of the main character trying to figure out what's hidden and how he can/can't exploit.

[raggedyman]

You might want to read the "Lord Darcy" stories by Randall Garrett. They take place in an alternate world where Richard the Lionheart did not die but went on to found the Angevin Empire. In this world magic exists and Lord Darcy is its greatest detective. Check over at Amazon , they have the complete stories published by Baen.

[FicusFan]

I have several of these type of books on my TBR pile. Not sure how good they are, or how well they fit your criteria:

Glen Cook writes a series called P.I. Garrett which is about a sword & sorcery PI I think. Someone gave me one of the books so I don't know a lot about them.

I found a listing of them, in order, on Amazon. Garrett P.I. Series (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/1ZTH3K1YZS4PO/ref=cm_lm_dp_l_3/002-8134025-7082402)

Tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber. There are several books in the series. I think they are a collection of short stories with the same two characters. I have heard it described and the ultimate sword & sorcery cop buddy story.

Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1565048741/qid=1070741500/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8134025-7082402?v=glance&s=books)


And Simon R Green has two books that have multi-volumne short novels of a pair called Hawk & Fisher.

the first is:

Hawk & Fisher (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451457552/qid=1070741175/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/002-8134025-7082402?v=glance&s=books)

There is another book with 3 more novels also.

[Bardos]

Two books come to mind...

1) Amber: Merlin Chronicles. Magic actually makes mysteries more confusing, and it solves them also. Actually magic is everything in Amber.

2) The Dragon Waiting by Ford. In the middle somewhere there is a mystery, and a wizard helps solving it.

[bigbry]

I 2nd the Cook Garrett series!!!! Hard to find yet worth the read.