THE SWORD-EDGED BLONDE by Alex Bledsoe

I was in the midst of announcing THE SWORD-EDGED BLONDE (USA, UK, Canada) by Alex Bledsoe last Saturday when my Internet connection went kaput. Now I realize that I never did announce it. Since another debut has hit the shelves since then, I'll cover them both today.

THE SWORD-EDGED BLONDE is the first debut I've covered in quite a while that got a starred review at Publishers Weekly. You can read the review at the Amazon link. The Amazon link also has a very positive review by Orson Scott Card. Here's the blurb from Night Shade Books:

It should have been a case like any other: a missing princess, a king willing to pay in gold for her return. But before he realizes it, private investigator Eddie LaCrosse, a slightly shopworn sword jockey with a talent for discretion and detection, is swept up in a web of mystery and deceit involving a brutally murdered royal heir, a queen accused of an unspeakable crime and the tragic past he thought he'd left behind.
Essential reading for fans of Glen Cook's Garrett novels, not to mention anyone who loves Hammett or Chandler. This is the first Alex Bledsoe novel you'll read, but it won't be the last.

Short but sweet. I'm seeing a lot of mystery-fantasy mixes these days, which is a welcome trend, in my mind. The author has a MySpace page and a website. His website contains descriptions of five other unpublished novels! Now that's tenacity! I found a review at The Agony Column, an interview at Lori Devoti's blog (I could not find a direct link to the interview, so some scrolling may be necessary after she puts up more posts).

UPDATE! Here's a direct link to that Lori Devoti interview.