> This is the series that got me hooked into the scifi/fantasy P.I. books.
You might enjoy the Dresden books by Jim Butcher - one of the blurbs on
the first book was by Cook, who wished he had written it.
Apropos my earlier comment about my mother's reading habits, others by
Cook you'll like right off are Shadows Linger and The Silver Spike.
They are the 2nd and 3.5th books in the Black Company series. She's
happy reading just those, others may want to bite the swords and
sorcery bullet and just start with The Black Company, or better yet
pick up the paperback omnibus of the first three.
I really can't recommend Silver Spike highly enough. It's a caper. But
neither George Clooney nor Frank Sinatra could get through this one.
Four lowlifes from the bad part of Oar have the incredibly stupid idea
to steal a deadly magical talisman of terrifying power and auction it
off. This may be the worst get-rich-quick idea anyone, real or
fictional, has ever had. Against all odds they listen to the
one that actually has some sense and, to the utter ruin of thousands,
steal the damned (in the technical sense) thing. Things fall apart with
amazing speed. It's a mirror on human nature that Raymond Chandler
would have been proud of. The plot absolutely races along as new
characters in bizarre situations all converge on a single point. Bad
things happen. Surprising things happen. Character development happens.
And some people never learn a damn (pejorative sense) thing.
If the summary on the wiki isn't better than that, I'm editing it.