alternate history
detective
A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads t ...
Lord Darcy and magician Master Sean. It was first published in ''
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publication ...
'' and has been included in the second edition of the collection ''
Lord Darcy''.
The Lord Darcy stories are set in an alternate world whose history supposedly diverged from our own during the reign of
King Richard the Lionheart
Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was overl ...
, in which
King John never reigned. Most of Western Europe and the Americas are united in an
Angevin Empire
The Angevin Empire (; french: Empire Plantagenêt) describes the possessions of the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and ...
whose continental possessions were never lost by that king. In this world, a magic-based technology has developed in place of the science of our own world.
Plot summary
Master Sean O'Lochlainn, the Irish forensic sorcerer, visits
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
- in this history, a sleepy provincial city which ceased to be a capital many centuries ago - on a mission to collect evidence for an impending court case. While he takes a break in a hotel bar, a man in a booth is found to have mysteriously died. The police soon arrive, in the shape of bumbling but tenacious Sergeant Cougair Chasseur, for whom Sean casts a preservation spell over the deceased's body until a
post mortem
An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any dis ...
can be conducted. But Sean is flabbergasted to be named as a possible murder suspect by Chasseur, who distrusts magic and follows the theory of 'least likely suspect'.
Sean is eventually exonerated and able to investigate the circumstances of the death of the man, identified as a retired officer of the Imperial Legion, formerly stationed in Mechicoe (Mexico). He discovers that the deceased has been poisoned whilst drinking ''Popacotapetl'', a very sweet
liqueur
A liqueur (; ; ) is an alcoholic drink composed of spirits (often rectified spirit) and additional flavorings such as sugar, fruits, herbs, and spices. Often served with or after dessert, they are typically heavily sweetened and un-aged bey ...
made in Mechicoe, which has been laced with a bitter poison made from coyotl weed. However, he had been treated with a
spell by a Healer, after which all drugs – including the one he is taking for malaria – taste sweet to him.
Eventually, the victim's wife, a much younger woman of Mechicain descent and who is conducting an illicit affair with a liqueur merchant, is unmasked.
External links
*
Science fiction short stories
Fantasy short stories
Alternate history short stories
Lord Darcy novels
Short stories by Randall Garrett
Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction
Short stories set in Paris
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