Book Review: 'The Mongolian Wizard #8: Murder In The Spook House' by Michael Swanwick

Cover art by Gregory Manchess

Another instalment in Michael Swanwick's excellent 'The Mongolian Wizard' short story series from Tor.com.

'Murder In The Spook House' sees Ritter and Freki called to investigate the murder of Sir Toby. But as is the case with this alt-history series, all is not what it seems.

I really enjoyed this. It's a fun and engaging quick read in the style of a Sherlock Holmes whodunit as Ritter sleuths in an effort to solve the mystery of Sir Toby's murder. I also liked the idea of the altering of timelines with the use of scrying into the future to bring back schematics and designs of future tech before their time to help with the war effort.

As this is #8 in the series, I'd also recommend reading through the previous short stories first before diving in with this one, as each of the stories expand on the world building, although really only hinting at things in the wider world, it could be a bit confusing wondering who's who and what's actually going on in the Mongolian Wizard universe.

Would love to see more stories set in this world, maybe even a full length novel. 'Murder In The Spook House' is another worthy addition to the series.

Available to read for free, as are the rest of the series, from the Tor Fiction website.