Burn Me Deadly, by Alex Bledsoe

Burn Me Deadly
Alex Blesdoe
Tor: 2009

Burn Me Deadly opens with a damsel in distress and a suspicious Eddie LaCrosse just the man to save her, which looks great on paper, but does not go so well for either the damsel or Eddie. The damsel mentions “Lumina” and is murdered. Eddie is beaten and thrown off a cliff. So is his horse. Eddie lives, the horse does not. Near death, Eddie is rescued by the kindness of a stranger who returns him to town for healing.

This second Eddie LaCrosse novel from Alex Bledsoe is set approximately two years after the events of The Sword-Edged Blonde. Where the first novel was an active case for Eddie, to use a cliché, this time it is personal. Like any hard-boiled dick, Eddie has a thing for the dames. He’s loyal to his woman, that damsel in distress will get him every time. Twice if she’s dead.

Burn My Deadly is a quest of revenge and mystery. The revenge part is obvious, but the mystery is that Eddie doesn’t know who was behind the murder of Laura Lesperitt (the damsel) or who to go after. But he’s got ideas. Some “dragon cult”, for starters. With each passing chapter the scope of what is really going on grows and the stakes increase accordingly. What begins as a relatively simple story of revenge becomes much bigger than that.

That doesn’t address what readers really want to know here. “That’s great, Joe, but is it any good?” Hell yeah, it’s good. Fans of The Sword-Edged Blonde will be delighted with Burn Me Deadly. The action is just as good, the story is bigger, and the mystery stays fresh. Like Glen Cook before him, Alex Bledsoe deftly works a hard-boiled detective story in a traditional fantasy setting and he does so with style and verve. Eddie cracks wise, he gets into scrapes, his life is continually in danger, and through it all he retains his moral center and gruff edge. He’s the hero you want on your side, but it’s better if you don’t need him. It’s also better if you can pay. Reading about Eddie LaCrosse is a delightful experience if you like your delight with a bit of snark.

The bottom line is that there is not a lot of hard-boiled fantasy / mystery blends out there and if that sounds at all appealing you should check this out. If it doesn’t sound at all appealing…you should check this out.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Tor.


Previous Review
The Sword-Edged Blonde

Blood Groove

Just saw this little tidbit over at The Swivet:

Alex Bledsoe's BLOOD GROOVE, the first book in a new series with a vampire who resurrects sixty years after being staked to find a drastically changed world and more peril than he ever expected, to Paul Stevens at Tor, for publication in April 2009, by Marlene Stringer at Barbara Bova Literary Agency (World English).

Good for Mr. Bledsoe. I have read and reviewed his debut novel The Sword-edged Blonde published by Night Shade Books. Loved it. He has a second Eddie LaCrosse novel, Lumina (Burn Me Deadly), due out October 2008 from Night Shade which I have high hopes for.

I'm excited for this sale and can't wait to see what Bledsoe does with Blood Groove.

The Sword-edged Blonde, by Alex Bledsoe

The Sword-edged Blonde
Alex Bledsoe
Night Shade Books: 2007

Private Investigator Eddie LaCrosse takes a case: Find the missing princess. Her father, the king, will pay good gold to ensure that her honor is preserved, no matter that she may well have run off with the hoodlums herself. The case is simple, but the case is only the beginning. Eddie LaCrosse finds himself pulled from the easy gold and into a case which stretches into his own past, a past which Eddie has avoided for nearly twenty years.

The Sword-edged Blonde is a cross-genre novel, mixing high fantasy with the hardboiled detective novel. Eddie LaCrosse would find himself very comfortable in the worlds of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, except for the fact that Eddie swings a Fireblade Warrior three foot sword rather than carrying a gun. The world-weary attitude, wise-cracking, extreme confidence, and deeply personal moral code, Eddie LaCrosse has it all.

This is what makes The Sword-edged Blonde such a blast to read. Alex Bledsoe gives the reader something not commonly found in fantasy (Glen Cook's Garret PI notwithstanding): that blend of fantasy and mystery. The Sword-edged Blonde just happens to be set in a low technology, medieval setting. It does not have to be. The setting gives an air of freshness to the story, though, and combined with Bledsoe's sure hand at creating the character and the mystery The Sword-edged Blonde is a winner! If a book can be feisty, this one is.

Alex Bledsoe is able to draw the reader in with that gruff "hardboiled" dialog and characterization of Eddie LaCrosse, but he keeps the reader gripped with the mix of the investigation and LaCrosse's backstory. The backstory is absolutely essential to the mystery.

Bottom line, The Sword-edged Blonde works and earned a place on my Best of 2007 list. No kidding, it's the real deal.

On his website, Alex Bledsoe mentions that there is another Eddie LaCrosse novel tentatively scheduled for 2008. If Bledsoe can hold the quality from The Sword-edged Blonde he should have a series which will well deserve popularity and sales.


Reading copy provided courtesy of Night Shade Books.


Alex Bledsoe's website has an Eddie LaCrosse short story, "Things That Flit". I have not read this story, but it is worth pointing out because the novel is just that damn good that I need to read more Eddie LaCrosse.