Something More Than Night is a Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler-inspired murder mystery set in Thomas Aquinas's vision of Heaven. It's a noir detective story starring fallen angels, the heavenly choir, nightclub stigmatics, a priest with a dirty secret, a femme fatale, and the Voice of God.
Somebody has murdered the angel Gabriel. Worse, the Jericho Trumpet has gone missing, putting Heaven on the brink of a truly cosmic crisis. But the twisty plot that unfolds from the murder investigation leads to something much bigger: a con job one billion years in the making.
Because this is no mere murder. A small band of angels has decided to break out of Heaven. They need a human patsy to make their plan work.
Much of the story is told from the point of view of Bayliss, a cynical fallen angel who has modeled himself on Philip Marlowe. The yarn he spins follows the progression of a Marlowe novel-the mysterious dame who needs his help, getting grilled by the bulls, finding a stiff, getting slipped a mickey.
Angels and gunsels, dames with eyes like fire, and a grand maguffin, Ian Tregillis's Something More Than Night is a murder mystery for the cosmos.
Industry Reviews
Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead...wow. Just-wow. "Kirkus Reviews"" "Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead...wow. Just-wow." --Kirkus Reviews Superlatives seem superfluous. Instead...wow. Just-wow. Kirkus Reviews" ""The C""oldest War" is like a cross between the devious, character-driven spy fiction of early John le Carre and the mad science fantasy of the X-Men...eloquent and utterly compelling."
--"Kirkus Reviews
""An excellent journey into an alternate Britain and should please fans of Harry Turtledove and Naomi Novik." --"Library Journal "on "The Coldest War"
"A white-knuckle plot, beautiful descriptions, and complex characters--an unstoppable Vickers of a novel."
--Cory Doctorow on "Bitter Seeds
"""Bitter Seeds" may rival Naomi Novik's "Tales of Temeraire" as a sustained historical fantasy."
--"Booklist"