From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment, to Santa Clause's Australian vacation and an enemy of Sam Spade's seeking revenge-plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse's hometown--Unusual Suspects invokes a dozen imaginative tales featuring otherworldly investigators trailing uncanny criminals across fantastical realms governed by the laws of magic.

This follow-up to Powers of Detection (2006) breaks no new ground, but offers 12 stories with enough well-paced variety to keep readers happy. In Charlaine Harris's notable Sookie Stackhouse tale, Lucky, one insurance agents good luck makes him a target. A resurrected Humphrey Bogart is murdered in Carole Nelson Douglas's Bogieman while Santa Claus investigates the murder of an elf in John Straley's Weight of the World. On the lighter side, a divorcée gets used to a menagerie of ghostly housemates in Sharon Shinn's The House of Seven Spirits and a young woman confronts a cave dragon turned loan shark to solve her fathers disappearance in Laura Anne Gilman's Illumination. Strong tales outnumber the weaker ones by a considerable margin and will satisfy fans of both genres.