Long Past Dues

August 1, 2023

Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby has achieved his dream of becoming an auditor for the Department of Unorthodox Affairs, which enforces laws about magic, yet the job is not filled with exciting, magical investigations as expected, but instead with mundane check-ins and mounds of reports. Grimsby takes matters into his own hands by lifting a case file meant for his friend and soon finds himself in the middle of a mysteriously unfinished ritual that mirrors one seen by his reclusive partner, the Huntsman Leslie Mayflower. Except that foe was vanquished by the Huntsman 20 years ago. Grimsby knows he must ensure that this ritual is not completed, for if it is, the cost could be too high--and one of his friends may have to pay. Butcher's deft dialogue continues with tongue-in-cheek humor, wry commentary, and snark, while this magical Boston setting is both familiar and fantastical. VERDICT Grimsby continues his awkward hero's journey, complete with reluctant partners and magical mysteries in the second installment of "The Unorthodox Chronicles," after Dead Man's Hand. This well-paced urban fantasy is a delightful addition to the subgenre.--Kristi Chadwick

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 28, 2023
Grimshaw Griswold Grimsby returns as the newest—and least magically skilled—Auditor for the Department of Unorthodox Affairs in Butcher’s dynamic urban fantasy sequel to Dead Man’s Hand. Grimsby’s partner, Leslie Mayflower, aka “the Hunstman,” has been AWOL for weeks, limiting Grimsby to routine drudge work—until he swaps out his latest assignment for a RUIN case assigned to his newly distant colleague Auditor Rayne Bathory. Grimsby isn’t ready to investigate the “ritual of unknown intent and nature” alone, so he tracks down Mayflower, who, recognizing something from his past in the ritual’s details, reluctantly agrees to help investigate. Meanwhile, Bathory, who is still searching for her ex-partner, Hives, receives unexpected help from the New York office’s Agent Defaux, who offers to provide some ritual assistance. Complicating things further, the creature Wudge, whom Grimsby rescued in the previous volume, now needs his help to recover an item from the Elsewhere. Functional magic or no, “half-witch” Grimsby stubbornly forges ahead in his mission to save others, making up in heart what he lacks in talent. The message that determination trumps ability will please fantasy readers who love to cheer for the little guy. Butcher proves that this series has legs.

September 22, 2023
Butcher's debut, Dead Man's Hand (2022), ended with the young witch Grimsby achieving his dream of becoming an Auditor for Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. The second book begins six months later, with Grimsby frustrated by the mundane tasks he keeps being assigned. His partner, the infamous Huntsman, has been absent from work lately, and the Department's director says his unexplained truancy is the reason Grimsby has not been given more challenging tasks; he must first prove he can work with his partner. Incensed at this, as he sees it, unfair treatment, the aggrieved magician surreptitiously trades his next assignment for one set aside for another Auditor and decides to confront his AWOL associate. But his disgruntled, hungover colleague refuses to return, telling Grimsby to get someone else. Then his mischievous, magical houseguest, draws him into a not-so-simple quest to retrieve part of a mystical door and he learns the file he purloined is connected to an old, unresolved case involving his now-former partner. Danger's afoot, and Grimsby's fantastical Unorthodox Chronicles adventures continue apace.

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