I saw a new book in Dan Willis’s Arcane Casebook series, and recalled that I hadn’t read one in a while. So I bought Gangster. I enjoyed it, until I was reminded why I’d stopped reading the books.

Alex Lockerby, hero of 11 previous novels, is a “runemaster” working in an alternate universe version of New York City, where magic works. Alex designs elaborate runic patterns that do various kinds of magical jobs for people. He’s so successful that some of the most powerful people in the city are his clients, and he’s dating the most feared sorceress in the world.

At the start of Gangster, Dan is framed for the murder of a friend who is a reformed gangster. His influential associates get him released on bail, but he has to figure out who has laid such an elaborate plan to frame him, and why.

Also, somebody is doing duplication magic, turning small bills of currency into large ones. Alex is baffled, because this is a trick he didn’t think was possible, and anybody with such potent magic shouldn’t need to be counterfeiting money. Occasional character Bill Donovan, soon to create the OSS for the government, is hanging around the edges of that mystery.

I’ve tried to figure out why I enjoy Dan Willis’s magical mysteries more than Jim Butcher’s, and I really can’t explain it. I just do.

But – and I’d forgotten this – author Willis has adopted the literary stratagem of ending each book with a cliffhanger. As I’ve frequently told you, I hate cliffhangers. I consider them a breach of the author-reader contract. I’ll admit the major mysteries in this book were explained, but the cases weren’t properly closed. And a new mystery was introduced on the last page, to lure us on to the next book.

Well, I’m not biting. I’m onto you, Dan Willis. If I follow this new thread, it will just lead to another cliffhanger. No sale.

Otherwise, the book was pretty good.