Hot Lead, Cold Iron by Ari Marmell, Mick Oberon #1Chicago, 1932. Mick Oberon may look like just another private detective, but beneath the fedora and the overcoat, he's got pointy ears and he's packing a wand.
Oberon's used to solving supernatural crimes, but the latest one's extra weird. A mobster's daughter was kidnapped sixteen years ago, replaced with a changeling, and Mick's been hired to find the real child. The trail's gone cold, but what there is leads Sideways, to the world of the Fae, where the Seelie Court rules. And Mick's not really welcome in the Seelie Court any more. He'll have to wade through Fae politics and mob power struggles to find the kidnapper – and of course it's the last person he expected.
I have been reading the young-adult series, Widdershins Adventure, of Ari Marmell over the last few months and have been enjoying them, though my first book of Ari Marmell that I got introduced to was In Thunder Forged, having finished that I had a close look of his forthcoming books and recently found that he started a brand new Urban Fantasy series called Mick Oberon, set in 1932. When I read through the synopsis and saw the mentioning of changelings, the Fae and Seelie Court. I knew I would be in for a treat! I read some UF stories with these settings but nothing set in the mobster 1932 era.
Ari Marmell doesn't hesitate one moment and directly throw the reader into an action packed start of the book introducing the main protagonist Mick Oberon, private detective with a twist. Ari Marmell directly started to produce a clear image of how we should see Mick Oberon, determined and not afraid to speak his mind. So what is Mick exactly? He is one of the Fae, one of those magic creatures and armed with his favorite wand an Luchtaine & Goodfellow tucked away in his holster, he is the one man who solves cases in Chicago. And as he has put it himself more than often, they aren't all that exciting really... After the introduction of Mick, the story is more like cause and effect. Mick gets a proposition for a new job, one that he doesn't really want to accept but since his landlord can't pay the bills, this one job offers Mick the opportunity to make some money so he can give it to his landlord. So Mick accepts the proposed job, albeit very reluctantly. What does this job include? Mick has to search for the missing daughter of one of Chicago's major mob bosses, though it is not him that inquires for Mick's help but it's his wife. To top it all off, the missing daughter has been missing for 16 years now... When she was born, she was changed by a changeling (a creature able to take on the appearance of a human, but as it grows up start to act less and less as a human and rebels more and more). In order to fulfill his task Mick has to go back to the place he hates, Elphame, the Chicago Otherworld. It soon comes to show that getting the help of the Seelie court will proof difficult and that Mick has quite a history back in the Elphame.
I have read my fair share of UF stories and I always enjoy to see how every author interprets this genre for it's own. So far I haven't encountered a story set in the mobster Chicago era and this was something that I really enjoyed. When you look at how Ari Marmell has designed his story, it was done with a lot of care. He really took the time to inspire that particular time frame. Using the mobster words for a lot of items really helped to further bolster this feeling. However this is just the present part human part where the story of Hot Lead, Cold Iron takes place, there is also another venue where the action takes place. The Chicago Otherworld, a place you can visit when you step sideways. I really like how Ari Marmell showed this otherside of the curtain with the Seelie and Unseelie court. All the weird and eccentric monster and creatures that inhabit this place all helped to produce this mystical and mythical air surrounding the Otherworld.
As for the main protagonist of the story, Mick Oberon, Ari Marmell knows just what snares to hit to create on interesting one. PI's always do well in UF just take a look at some of the big series like Nightside from Simon R. Green and of course the Dresden Files from Jim Butcher. Mick Oberon is different enough to really set himself apart from the others. For starters he lives in the 1932 and really has a bit of the mobster vibe going on for himself. Secondly he is a member of aes sidhe, yes they do have a bit of pointy ears. Thirdly he is not armed with your average pea shooter but wears his trusty wand the Luchtaine & Goodfellow, which hasn't failed him once and with which he isn't afraid to fling a few spells with. And lastly he doesn't ask any cash for his work only the occasional weird artifact that might help him out on a later case, this really added a nice few layers to the eccentricity of Mick's character and with a cabinet chock full of oddities who know what Mick will have up his sleeve when he is on a job. And did I already mention that he rather has a nice cup of warm milk? Instead of the hard liquor you normally see PI drink. The other characters that you get to meet along the way all have their own eccentrity working for them, even the people in the present day Chicago have some alluring sense surrounding. All the characters readily help to pull the story further but Mick is definitely at the forefront.
One last thing that I want to mention is the way that the story is written. When dealing with an PI's job, there isn't anything better than a first person narration. This is exactly the narration that Ari Marmell employs in Hot Lead, Cold Iron. It's by this first person narration that the whole PI element comes out even better. You really see all the personal squabbles and mumblings that Mick has about the world and several characters. Though what oftentimes can happen is that a first person narration can produce a too narrow vision of the world, but luckily Ari Marmell avoids falling into this, and by his clever world building and the place that get visited you get to full view of everything that he so far reveals to the reader.
Now I almost forgot to mention the action that takes place. It's completely reminiscent to those old school gangster shoot out but in the case for Mick, he uses his wand to liven it up just a bit more. Guns and magic and mobsters what more do you need!
With Hot Lead, Cold Iron, Ari Marmell has created an great new entry in the exsiting UF genre. Featuring his story in the mobster ridden Chicago of 1932 produces an interesting and fresh setting that he only bolsters further by his excellent writing style and using the slang of that time. The main protagonist that is introduced in Hot Lead, Cold Iron, Mick Oberon, is one of those that has a certain air surrounding him, well yes he is one of the Fae but he has a lot of eccentric ticks that make him stand out among many other UF protagonists. Hot Lead, Cold Iron is only the first case file for Mick, in the back in mentions that the second book is due to be released somewhere in 2015. I hope this is just the second of many to follow. If Ari Marmell can keep up this pace in his books to follow he will be in for a long time. UF and PI's definitely lend themselves for an ongoing series. Furthermore by all that I have come to read from Ari Marmell so far, his YA and Gaming serie and now his fist UF series he has really proven to be one versatile writer and knows his game. Hot Lead, Cold Iron is a must read for UF fans.
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