I recently had the distinct pleasure of reading Murder in Absentia by Assaph Mehr. While this book was not originally in my Goodreads list of books to read before I die, I wanted to broaden my horizons and dove into an amazing book that opened my eyes to a new sub-genre of writing art that changed the way I will seek out future reading material. Murder in Absentia is a must-read for anyone who is intrigued by detectives, mystery, magic, and fantastical historical setting.  Without hesitation and reservation, this book nailed a 5 stars out of 5 for me.

This is what changed my mind about being a genre snob.

First, I was enthralled with the setting. A young man is found dead in his bed, with a look of extreme agony on his face and strange tattoos all over his body. His distraught senator father suspects foul play, and knows who to call on. Enter Felix the Fox, a professional investigator. In the business of ferreting out dark information for his clients, Felix is neither a traditional detective nor a traditional magician – but something in between. Drawing on his experience of dealing with the shady elements of society and his aborted education in the magical arts, Felix dons his toga and sets out to discover the young man’s killers.

Murder in absentia is set in a fantasy world. The city of Egretia borrows elements from a thousand years of ancient Roman culture, from the founding of Rome to the late empire, mixed with a judicious amount of magic. This is a story of a cynical, hardboiled detective dealing with anything from daily life to the old forces roaming the world.

This is a story of Togas, Daggers and Magic – for lovers of Murder Mysteries, Ancient Rome, Urban Fantasy, or those wishing to add a new sub-genre to their reading repertoire.

LIVE Chat with this awesome author, Assaph Mehr, TONIGHT on Facebook at 6:00 p.m. EST on the Mystery Thriller Week Facebook page, where he will answer all your questions and entertain us with the Author’s life he leads.

If you want more information, be sure to check out Assaph’s Q&A Interview with Sherrie’s Always Write yesterday.

Read Murder in Absentia Book Excerpt here.

The below awards thankfully reinforce my belief that this book should be on your iPad, Smartphone, or at least in your books to be read this year.

Virtual FantasyCon 2016

  • 1st place – Favourite Dark Fantasy Book
  • 1st place – Favourite Dark Fantasy Author
  • 2nd place – Favourite Urban Fantasy Book
  • 2nd place – Favourite Urban Fantasy Author
  • 3rd place – Favourite Fantasy Series

Goodreads

Author Bio

Assaph has been a bibliophile since he learnt to read at the age of five, and a Romanophile ever since he first got his hands on Asterix, way back in elementary school. This exacerbated when his parents took him on a trip to Rome and Italy – he whinged horribly when they dragged him to “yet another church with baby angels on the ceiling”, yet was happy to skip all day around ancient ruins and museums for Etruscan art.  He has since been feeding his addiction for books with stories of mystery and fantasy of all kinds. A few years ago he randomly picked a copy of a Lindsay Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco novel in a used book fair, and fell in love with Rome all over again, this time from the view-point of a cynical adult. His main influences in writing are Steven Saylor, Lindsey Davis, Barry Hughart and Boris Akunin.  Assaph now lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife Julia, four kids and two cats. By day he is a software product manager, bridging the gap between developers and users, and by night he’s writing – he seems to do his best writing after midnight.

Find Assaph Mehr and Murder in Absentia at any of the following locations:

Remember,

Sherrie’s Always Write