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Comeuppance Served Cold Paperback – March 22, 2022

by Marion Deeds (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 109 ratings
Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy
See all formats and editions
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Marion Deeds's Comeuppance Served Cold is a hard-boiled historical fantasy of criminality and magic, couched in the glamour of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.


A Most Anticipated Pick for Buzzfeed | Bustle | Autostraddle | The Nerd Daily

Seattle, 1929―a bitterly divided city overflowing with wealth, violence, and magic.

A respected magus and city leader intent on criminalizing Seattle’s most vulnerable magickers hires a young woman as a lady’s companion to curb his rebellious daughter’s outrageous behavior.

The widowed owner of a speakeasy encounters an opportunity to make her husband’s murderer pay while she tries to keep her shapeshifter brother safe.

A notorious thief slips into the city to complete a delicate and dangerous job that will leave chaos in its wake.

One thing is for certain―comeuppance, eventually, waits for everyone.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tor.com
  4. Publication date
    March 22, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.48 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1250811074
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1250811073
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A Most Anticipated Pick for Buzzfeed | Bustle | Autostraddle | The Nerd Daily

"I love a good heist, and this is a beautifully constructed magical heist in turn-of-the-century Seattle."―Mary Robinette Kowal

"This fierce magical heist tale is as smooth as gin and jazz."―Beth Cato

"Catnip for those who like watching con artists walk the tightrope of trickery and lies."―Marie Brennan

"[A] captivating noir fantasy. . .Deeds presents all this intrigue in reverse chronological order, spinning out mysteries that will keep readers guessing till the end. The result is a well-crafted puzzle; readers’ only complaint will be that they want more."―Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A fun, fast-moving heist story that will immediately hook readers who love 1920s-era worlds and soft-fantasy world building."―Booklist, starred review

"Readers who love heist and caper stories will be thrilled with Dolly and her quest to deliver much-deserved comeuppance to those who believed they are above the law. The gas-lamp setting gives just the right touch of magic and creeping dread to Deeds’s novel."―Library Journal

"A deliciously fun novella set in 1929 Seattle is just what is needed for your bookshelves. . . .Beginning at the ending and following the path backwards through a magical heist, this story brings comeuppance to all."―Buzzfeed

"Deeds tells her story with nuance and subtly, luring you into a false sense of pleasantry. From the first page to the very last word, I was enthralled with this tale of thievery and lies."―Grimdark Magazine

“The prize for most original book I’ve read in a while goes to Comeuppance Served Cold. . . .Full of stylish moments and taut conversations where witticisms fly but care must be taken over every single word, this is a novel that carries itself with a wink and nod but is actually deadly serious.”―Locus

About the Author

Marion Deeds was born in Santa Barbara, California and moved to northern California when she was five. She loves the redwoods, the ocean, dogs and crows.

She’s fascinated by the unexplained, and curious about power: who has it, who gets it, what is the best way to wield it. These questions inform her stories.

Deeds has published Aluminum Leaves and Copper Road from Falstaff Books, with short works in Podcastle and several anthologies. She reviews fiction and writes a column for the review site Fantasy Literature.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tor.com (March 22, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250811074
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250811073
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.48 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 109 ratings

About the author

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Marion Deeds

Marion Deeds

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The first story I ever wrote involved a lost gold mine, and a girl and her horse. It was lavishly illustrated even though I could only draw horses facing to the right. I was seven.

In the fourth grade our teacher read us Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and for me, a shimmering portal opened. From there it was Andre Norton, who led (in a nonlinear fashion) to Ursula LeGuin, Vonda McIntyre, Octavia Butler and Patricia McKillip, as well as Golden Age stories and some of the Heinlein juveniles. Along the way I discovered Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte and Jane Austen.

Even with those influences, classic and interstellar, it’s surprising how often lost gold mines still show up in my work, along with magic, found families, food and the ocean. The ocean’s a favorite, and my short story “Littoral Zone” won first place in the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference short story contest in 2017. It was published in The Noyo River Review.

Comeuppance Served Cold, a fantasy noir story in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett, will be out March 22, 2022 from Tordotcom Books. My portal fantasy novel Copper Road and its prequel, Aluminum Leaves, were published by Falstaff Book. You can find my short fiction and flash in Daily Science Fiction, Podcastle, Flash Fiction Online and various anthologies. I review for Fantasyliterature.com and I blog at www.deedsandwords.com. I'm currently working on a series of novellas set during the Jazz Era, in a United States where booze is banned but magic is legal.

I live in northern coastal California, where I go for walks, take photos and feed the neighborhood crows.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
109 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

H. Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars a trippy, magic noir trip down to heistville
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book has a great smattering of characters, all of which have their own shadowy or not-so-shadowy motives. The main character is duplicitous to the max, and a lot of the book is wondering if she has a heart of gold, or if the reader is being tricked too! That's a lot of the fun, deciding where everyone falls. Until it does. This book is full of action, dramatic flashbacks, dramatic current events, and dramatic projections. It's really a throwback to noir films, with added magic, varied and inclusive characters, and a very buttery smooth modern makeover of the genre. Buy this book!
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dj in Alexandria
4.0 out of 5 stars Strange world of magicking
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
Delightful images, strange world of magic, shape shifters, and disguise. Didn’t make a deeper connection with the themes, but suspect there may be one. Odd but entertaining.
One person found this helpful
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graypast7
3.0 out of 5 stars wooden characters
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2023
Interesting premise. Good, authentic description of time and place. But the characters never came to life. They were all carefully described wooden paper dolls, especially the main character, Dolly White. The story has an unnecessary and annoying structure which goes forward and backward in time. I found it detracted from rather than contributing to the strength of the storytelling. Ms. Deeds is a good descriptive writer, but I kept waiting for the characters to become sympathetic and relatable. Hard to like the story when you don't much like anyone in it. Phillippe and Gregory were the most sympathetic characters, and their story was a thin sub-plot. I wanted to like this story much more than I actually did.
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Donna Banta
5.0 out of 5 stars Magical Trip to Prohibition-era Seattle
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2022
Verified Purchase
Speakeasies, bootleggers, magickers, and shape-shifters interwoven in a deftly plotted romp through 1929 Seattle. Impossible to put down and, in the end, leaving this reader wanting more!
One person found this helpful
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Emma Pinnard
4.0 out of 5 stars I hope this becomes a series
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this book. It works fine as a standalone, but I hope we get future stories.
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rob124c41
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and clean
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
Marion Deeds offers readers a well wrought exemplar of the urban fantasy genre. Recommended for all fans of that sort.
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K. Howard
4.0 out of 5 stars Magical Seattle during Prohibition
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2022
Comeuppance Served Cold is the first work I've read by Marion Deeds. Set in a magical version of 1929, after the stock market crash and during prohibition, this novella reimagines racism (against shapeshifters), drugs (shimmer-sham) and grifters. Prepared to be dazzled by this unusual story!

In Seattle in 1929, there's a great deal of violence, wealth and magic. Ambrose Earnshaw, a respected magus and City Commissioner, is determined to criminalize shapeshifters. His daughter Fiona is under the influence of drink and the drug shimmer-sham, so he hires a young woman, Dolly White, to be a lady's companion to help straighten out Fiona. Then there's Violet Solomon, who runs a speakeasy. She has wanted to make someone pay for the death of her beloved Pedro, and she finally has the chance. She is also trying to protect her shapeshifter brother Philippe and his blind magical-tattooist lover Gabe. And to make it even more interesting, a notorious thief arrives in Seattle to handle a complicated job that will leave destruction and chaos for all involved. Just what is going on?

Actually, I spent a lot of this novella wondering what was going on myself! Maybe it was traces of Covid fog remaining in my brain. However, I'd like to blame the nonlinear timeline! We started off with Dolly being hired to babysit Fiona, and we're introduced to the Earnshaw family. After that, we go back in time leading up to the current time to see what Dolly is actually been doing as a grifter, setting up the job, and being introduced to other characters such as Violet. We learn Violet's history. Then we're back to current time and the big set-up for some in the Earnshaw family and other criminals, and the big heist. Yes, I was totally confused throughout a lot of the story, but that didn't stop me from loving it! Dolly was a fascinating character and I loved seeing the bits and pieces of who she actually is coming together. I also liked Fiona, who started out in a pitiable state but managed to become a strong woman. Violet, Philippe and Gabe were also great characters. The storyline concerning the shapeshifters was fascinating. However, what I loved best was the magical reimagining of Seattle and how that affected the motivations of Dolly and others. Dolly, by the way, who is actually named Comeuppance Rather. I'm really hoping to read more adventures of this talented grifter!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.
One person found this helpful
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Elizabeth Miller
5.0 out of 5 stars Clever and intricate
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2022
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This kept me reading and I really enjoyed how all the pieces fit together at the end!
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Top reviews from other countries

Tabbygray
5.0 out of 5 stars Had me on the edge of my seat
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2022
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this and I was on the edge of my seat at the end - I really wasn't sure Dolly would manage pull everything off successfully. She's a great character, intelligent and resourceful and I'd love to read more about her, I hope there will be sequels (plural). Recommended
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