Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett Files) [Paperback]

Glen Cook (Author)

Book Description

Series: Garrett Files | Publication Date: August 5, 1987

An investigator is hired to track down a woman to whom his dead pal has left a fortune. His task turns out to be much harder than he'd expected since he's up against gnomes instead of humans. A nasty collection of vampires, centaurs, and gnomes have him on the double take at every turn.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Private investigator Garrett, hero of the Cantard Wars, reluctantly agrees to return to the perilous Cantard mining country in search of a missing heiress. His companions include a renegade half-elf, a trio of frog-like "grolls," and two sharp-tongued women with their own interest in the quest's successor failure. Cook's laconic style brings a dose of gritty realism to the fantasy genre. This latest adventure by the author of "The Black Company" trilogy is recommended. JC
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Cook turns fantasy inside out. (Locus)

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1 pages
• Publisher: Roc (August 5, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451150619
• ISBN-13: 978-0451150615
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,508,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Detective in the Warzone, August 25, 2007

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sweet Silver Blues (1987) is the first fantasy novel in the Garrett Files series. TunFaire is an old city, with the royalty and wizards uphill and the criminals downhill in the slums. Outside the city are the estates of the rich.

In this novel, Garrett is an ex-Marine who has spent five hard years fighting the Venageti within the Cantard. After completing his enlistment, he hung out his shingle as a private detective. Now he has his home and office inside the city gates in the commoner section.

Garrett has a partner in the detective business. The Dead Man had been killed four hundred years previously, but is neither dead nor a man; he is a four hundred fifty pound Loghyr whose body might be dead, but whose mind is definitely still alive. He can read the mind of anyone within a score yards or so of his body and can project thoughts into the minds of anyone within the same radius. He is also capable of other psychic tricks within that restricted range.

The Dead Man is very smart and extremely well informed on historical details, but he is also incapable of moving on his own. Garrett is the active partner, gathering facts and reporting back to the Dead Man. The Dead Man compiles these facts and then deduces certain conclusions, often sending Garrett out to collect additional specific information.

In this story, a friend of Garrett has died and the registered will appoints Garrett as one of the executors. Denny Tate had been a cavalryman in the Cantard and had been in the lucky regiment that overran a Venageti treasure caravan. Denny mustered out with a goodly amount of metal.

When Willard Tate takes him into the basement to see his son's silver, Garrett finds much more than he expected. The basement contains one hundred thousand Karentine marks in silver and other metals. No way that could be Denny's share of the plunder. Willard explains that Denny had been trading in metals, buying gold when the price of silver is high and buying silver when the price of gold is high.

Denny's will left most of the fortune to Kayean Kronk. Supposedly she is an old flame from his army days, who had kept writing letters to Denny after he was returned from the Cantard. After Garrett finished reading a few of the letters, he knew that he would take the job. Of course, he would have to return to the Cantard to find the heiress.

Garrett takes Morley -- the half-darkelf -- and three grolls with him to the Cantard. Unhappily, Rose and Tinnie Tate end up sailing with them down to Liefmold, but Garrett makes a deal with the bargemaster to take the girls back to TunFaire. Morley and the grolls are seasick the entire way on the barge to Liefmold and then even more so on the coaster to Full Harbor.

This story has elements of noir detective stories. It also has some obvious similarities to the Nero Wolfe novels, yet Garrett shows more intuition and independence than Archie Goodwin. Once they reach Full Harbor, however, the plot begins to resemble an espionage thriller. Various groups begin to react to Garrett and his crew as if they are official investigators from the capital. Then people start to vanish after talking to Garrett.

Highly recommended for Cook fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of tough detectives, casual magic, and a dead psychic genius in the wings.

-Arthur W. Jordin

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mike Hammer meets Harry Potter, September 26, 2007

By 

Gunner (Smyrna, Georgia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett, P.I.) (Mass Market Paperback)

Sweet Silver Blues

Sweet Silver Blues is the first book in the Garrett Files collection. Garrett is a tough ex-marine private investigator in the mold of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. The series is set in a fantasy world that is quite amusing. His advisor is "the Dead Man" who is really not a man at all, but, oh never mind , buy this book, you'll want to read it several times.

Gunner September, 2007


1. Sweet Silver Blues (1987)
2. Bitter Gold Hearts (1988)
3. Cold Copper Tears (1988)
4. Old Tin Sorrows (1989)
5. Dread Brass Shadows (1990)
6. Red Iron Nights (1991)
7. Deadly Quicksilver Lies (1994)
8. Petty Pewter Gods (1995)
9. Faded Steel Heat (1999)
10. Angry Lead Skies (2002)
11. Whispering Nickel Idols (2005)
Science Fiction Book Club omnibus editions:
1. The Garrett Files (collects Sweet Silver Blues, Bitter Gold Hearts, and Cold Copper Tears; 2003)
2. Garrett, P.I. (collects Old Tin Sorrows, Dread Brass Shadows, and Red Iron Nights; 2003)
3. Garrett Investigates (collects Deadly Quicksilver Lies, Petty Pewter Gods, and Faded Steel Heat; 2004)

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Start of the Garrett Series, October 30, 2005

By 

David A. Lessnau (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Silver Blues (Garrett Files) (Paperback)

This is the first of Cook's Garrett series ("Sweet Silver Blues," "Bitter Gold Hearts," "Cold Copper Tears," "Old Tin Sorrows," "Dread Brass Shadows," "Red Iron Nights," "Deadly Quicksilver Lies," "Petty Pewter Gods," "Faded Steel Heat," "Angry Lead Skies," and "Whispering Nickel Idols"). It's an excellent, humorous combination of Fantasy and early Detective novels (Raymond Chandler is the usual comparison). What always strikes me about this series, and especially this book (since it's the first), is how Cook's writing makes it feel like the world he's describing actually exists (and has existed for some time). It's like the history, geography, and people are THERE and he's merely opening a window to their world. This is an excellent book which I highly recommend to anyone who likes either Fantasy or Mystery. I rate it at 5 stars out of 5.

BTW: At the time of this review, this book is long out of print. It's tough to find anywhere. As an alternative, look around for the SFBC's "The Garrett Files." This book is part of that collection.