Dagger to the Heart by Alex P. Berg

Reading and reviewing the stories in Eight in the Chamber anthology.  Reviewing book #1.

Title: Dagger to the Heart
Author: Alex P. Berg
Series:  Daggers and Steele #0
Publish Date:  December 10, 2017
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source:  purchased by reviewer in Anthology, Eight in the Chamber

Publisher’s Description:  Detective Jake Daggers prefers his barbecue blackened, but with a serial arsonist on the loose, it’s the city’s murder victims coming in crispy. With the body count rising and fires burning across town, will the case get too hot to handle? Find out in this heart-wrenching prequel novella to the Daggers & Steele series.

Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel. In other words …SPOILERS. *BEWARE*

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Nervous Nellie says…

I started this anthology because it had been on my TBR list for quite awhile and decided that now was the time.  I am in the middle of book #2, Cold Hard Steele after finishing Red Hot Steele a few days ago.

This series takes place in an alternate universe that sort of parallels ours except for there being fantasy creatures part of the general population.  Eleven folks, Ogres, Sprites…you get the idea.  The time feels less like now and more like decades ago, as transportation is by rickshaw as horses have been banned, weapons only exist as far as spears, a nightstick named Daisy, and magic.  Equal rights are not to be had as the female population is featured similarly as a 1950’s version.

I have read the books as well as listened to the audio books.  I prefer the written word more than the spoken.  Alex P. Berg narrates his own books which I’m not sure how a feel about.  The narrator makes Jake a lot more stupid than when I read the book, hence the preference. The protagonist, Jake Daggers, is a real chauvanist and has a seriously misplaced ego.  For a 10 year veteran of detective work, I’m not sure he can get out of bed without hurting himself!  That means he’s a dumbass.

In this prequel novella, I got a taste of how Griggs and Daggers worked together.  Steele isn’t in the picture yet.  It also spotlighted Daggers total lack of consideration for his wife and child.  He’s a drunk.  He’s blaming his bad fortune on others.  He has a mystery to solve (and I really think he lucked out with this mystery because he cannot function well without Steele) that involves arsons and murders.  The ending was suitable for a novella.  It had to end as it did because…well, novella.

With all that being said, I enjoy Daggers and Steele (as long as I read it as Daggers is too stupid for belief in the audio version) and I liked the prequel.  It gave me more of a world building look with a touch of how Jake Daggers became the Jake Daggers in book #1 and #2 (so far).

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