Stalking the dragon : a fable of tonight : a John Justin Mallory mystery

"Readers with a taste for supernatural whimsy will find much to enjoy here . . . .The crisp dialogue and imaginative setting will have many fantasy readers wanting to revisit Manhattan's magical side." -Publishers Weekly It's Valentine's Day and private detective John Justin Mallory is planning on closing up the office early and taking his partner, Col. Winnifred Carruthers, out to dinner, since he's sure no one else will do so. But before he can turn off the lights and lock the door, a panic-stricken Buffalo Bill Brody visits them. It seems that the Eastminster pet show is being held the next day, and his dragon, Fluffy, the heavy favorite, has been kidnapped. Mallory's nocturnal hunt for the miniature dragon takes him to some of the stranger sections of this Manhattan-Greenwitch Village (which is right around the corner from Greenwich Village and is populated by witches and covens); a wax museum where figures of Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre come alive; Gracie Mansion (which is haunted by the ghosts of former mayors); and the Bureau of Missing Creatures, a movie set where they're filming a PBS documentary on zombies and various other denizens of the Manhattan night. As Mallory follows the leads and hunts for clues, he comes up against one dead end after another. Along the way he meets a few old friends and enemies, and a host of strange new inhabitants of this otherworldly Manhattan. Aided by a strange goblin named Jeeves, Mallory has only one night to find a tiny dragon that's hidden somewhere in a city of seven million. Mike Resnick has won an impressive five Hugos and been nominated for twenty-six more. He has sold fifty-eight novels and more than two hundred short stories. He has edited fifty anthologies. His work ranges from satirical fair, such as his Lucifer Jones adventures, to weighty sixty-seven major and minor awards and nominations to date, is the most honored series of stories in the history of science fiction. Pyr has published Resnick's Starship series, Stalking the Unicorn, Stalking the Vampire, Ivory, and New Dreams for Old. Visit Mike Resnick online at mikeresnick.com. It's Valentine's Day, and private detective John Justin Mallory is planning on closing up the office early and taking his partner, Col. Winnifred Carruthers, out to dinner since he is sure no one else will do so. But before he can turn off the lights and lock the door, he is visited by a panic-stricken Buffalo Bill Brody. It seems that the Eastminster pet show is being held the next day, and his dragon Fluffy, the heavy favorite, has been kidnapped. Mallory's nocturnal hunt for the tiny dragon takes him to some of the stranger sections of this Manhattan, and as he follows the leads and hunts for clues, he comes up against one dead end after another. Along the way he meets a few old friends and enemies, a host of strange new inhabitants of this otherworldly Manhattan, and the most unique cell phone in all of fantastic literature. Aided by Felina (the office cat-person), a Samurai goblin, and a zombie named Dead End Dugan, Mallory and his unlikely crew have only one night to find a tiny dragon that is hidden somewhere in a city of seven million With the help of a strange gremlin named Jeeves, detective John Justin Mallory's search for missing dragon takes him to Greenwitch Village; a wax museum where the characters come alive; Gracie Mansion, where deceased mayors haunt its halls; and other locales in an otherworldly Manhattan