The Mysteries

by Lisa Tuttle

'A deft and daring blend of mystery and dark fantasy . . . Richly imagined and beautifully written, it lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned' - George R.R. Martin

Blending mystery, thrills and fantasy, this standalone novel from award-winning author Lisa Tuttle will leave you looking over your shoulder . . .

Laura Lensky's daughter, Peri, has been missing for two years. For the police it's a closed case - she wanted to run away - but for her mother and boyfriend, Hugh, it's a different story.

When Laura hires private investigator Ian Kennedy, it is a last-ditch attempt to find her daughter before she leaves for America.

Drawn in by strange parallels to an obscure Celtic myth and his first, almost unexplainable case, Ian takes the job. But his beliefs are about to be stretched to their limit - there are darker and more devious forces at work here than any of them imagined . . .

'It will make the hairs stand up on the back of your head. It will make you imagine things you've never imagined before. And it will make you think. It is her best novel to date' - Michael Moorcock

• ISBN10: 178206057X
• ISBN13: 9781782060574
• Publish Date: 4 September 2014 (first published 1 January 2005)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 5 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Quercus Publishing
• Imprint: Jo Fletcher Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[celinenyx]

The Mysteries is The Cuckoo's Calling with fae. It follows private investigator Ian, from his earliest encounter with a missing person in his childhood, to his latest disappearance case. There are several timelines in the book, criss-crossing, interspersed with short memoirs of historical people gone missing.

It took me a while to figure out what The Mysteries was about. It was rather, forgive me, mysterious. The fae aspect of the book doesn't come to the foreground until relatively late, leaving the reader guessing and trying to form an image of the extent of supernatural-ness in the book. Often a lack of certainty is frustrating in a book, but the plot kept moving through the mystery/thriller conventions it relies on. A huge part of the book is a simple girl-gone-missing plot - until we find out that things aren't adding up.

The Mysteries held me enthralled for its slightly hefty 450 pages. There just is a certain something so fascinating about the fey, a quality that has intrigued people for centuries. The Mysteries does an amazing job in balancing the unworldly aspect of the fae versus the view of a modern sceptic.

I had only one issue with The Mysteries - and that was that the resolution of the main storyline didn't feel climactic enough. It was satisfying, but not epic or emotional enough for my liking. A mind-blowing ending would have carried The Mysteries into 5-star territory. As it is now, The Mysteries is the best fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen.

It's also the only fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen. But shhhhh.