Originally posted as part of Queen’s Book Asylum’s SPFBO X reviews.

I usually love a good mystery and, if there is an element of political intrigue to it as well, then so much the better. So, it could be fair to say I’m the target audience for a story like Mushroom Blues. Beginning with a standard noir set-up; the 1st person protagonist is an embittered detective, one step away from alcoholism, called out on a cold and miserable morning to investigate a dead body. But the body pulled from Kinoko Bay is Hōpponese, one of the humanoid fungal race that live under the oppression of the occupying Coprinians ever since the Spore War ended and the murder threatens to spark a rebellion.

Henrietta Hofmann; or Hen as her seemingly only friend calls her, is not the easiest character to engage with initially. She is abrasive toward most of her colleagues and downright bigoted towards the Hōpponese, particularly the secondary protagonist of Koji, one of the few Hōpponese to have joined the Neo Kinoko police and who ends up assisting with her investigation. Frequently morose to the point of self-pity, it’s only when she begins to look at the possibility of solving the case as a lifeline back to who she used to be, that some of the walls about her begin to drop a little.

If the above sounds familiar from any number of murder mysteries or buddy cop movies, then I can’t really dispute that assessment. But I would argue that the tropes used here are less important than how they’re handled and, as far as I was concerned, there was more than enough of a new spin on them to make this a great read. Not that it is entirely without fault; Hofmann’s final transition toward sympathising with the Hōpponese does feel a little bit rushed, particularly given an assault that occurs early on in the story. Still, there were also glimmers of it earlier too, when dealing with children or a potential informant so, my assessment may differ from others.

While a good part of the novel explores the Hōpponese culture and religion, there isn’t a great deal devoted to the world at large. Despite a few mentions of the Spore War, there isn’t much about its causes or duration, only the outcome, which is fair enough since none of that is really important to the story Mushroom Blues tells. Having said that, it is something I was curious about and would be interested in learning more of in future instalments.

Overall, I found Mushroom Blues to be a great introduction to this world, with a good balance of the familiar and the fantastic.

5 out of 5 mycelium