I was invited to write a story for an anthology of fantasy mysteries, to be called Murder by Magic. This story was what I came up with.

I must admit, while I love mysteries, I don't think I'm very good at writing them. In a real-world setting I'm always too worried about screwing up the details, since I know very little about cops, criminals, guns, etc. In a fantasy setting I thought I could manage, since I got to make up the background, but it was still pretty tough.

The tricky part of writing a mystery is finding a balance between the obvious and the impossible, where the reader doesn't find the puzzle so simple it's boring, or so difficult it feels unfair. I hope I hit that balance here.

Reviews:

John C. Bunnell, Amazing Stories:

"Rosemary Edghill's selections reflect an appropriately wide-ranging editorial eye. Barely half of the twenty tales feature classical whodunits, the two cleverest being Lawrence Watt-Evans's 'Dropping Hints' and Keith R.A. DeCandido's 'Getting the Chair.' The first of these forces an eyewitness to discern which of five identical homunculi has murdered its master, while the second finds an investigative team quizzing animated furniture in hopes of learning how its owner perished."