True to form, Lord John Grey once again finds himself in the middle of a
fracas. It's humorous to me how he always stumbles upon these things
and finds himself knee-deep in some sort of scandal or investigation. In
this novella (originally published in 2004 in the anthology
Legends II: New Short Novels by the Modern Masters of Fantasy,
edited by Robert Silverberg, and now also found in the collection
Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon), it is the fall of 1757, and Lord John is
stationed in the town of Gundwitz, Prussia as the English liaison to the
Prussian army. As liaison, he is forced to mediate a dispute between an
English soldier, a Prussian tavern owner, and a gypsy prostitute. This
begins his adventure, which involves investigating the mysterious deaths
of two soldiers, thought to have been killed by a succubus. The rumors
of a female demon preying on men in their sleep passes like wildfire
throughout the troops and soon the camps are in an uproar. Everyone is
too afraid to sleep, so the soldiers fight to stay awake (using various
interesting tactics), and their performance in the line of duty is
thereby compromised. Lord John is determined to get to the bottom of the
mystery, having every confidence that there is a logical explanation
for the deaths.
As always in the Lord John stories, there are one
or two references to Jamie and Claire Fraser, but they are brief and do
not shed any new light on the adventures of your favorite
Outlander
couple. This is not Gabaldon's best work, as I believe she writes best
when not constrained by time or word count. But the humor and
lightheartedness of John Grey still shines through, and there is even a
bit of a shocking revelation about his past toward the end. I love Lord
John and will continue to read more in his series.
Get a copy of
Lord John and the Hand of Devils on Amazon.
Read about the author,
Diana Gabaldon, on Goodreads.
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