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The Scissors and the Sword
An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.
Two murders, two pairs of scissors, a Scene-Of-Crime Officer and a Samurai in London: A Supernatural Urban Fantasy!
Two pairs of bloody scissors are the only clues recovered from a double-murder-scene in Hyde Park, and highstrung Scene-Of-Crime Officer Jessica Cartwright has until the next full moon to put the pieces together.
But when a sword on display at the British Museum spontaneously shatters, she is confronted with an unthinkable truth: A man from another era has a score to settle with an ancient enemy, in a clash that threatens every soul in London.
As the fate of the city hangs in the balance, can Jessica overcome a spectre of her own past and uncover the connection between the scissors and the sword, before it’s too late?
- GenresUrban Fantasy
265 pages, ebook
Published December 11, 2015
4 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
Ethan Fox
3 books12 followersBritish writer of Urban Fantasy fiction, often with an anime-esque theme. Lover of anime, geeky stuff and aviator sunglasses.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 18, 2018
For the record, I won a free Kindle copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Reading this was an interesting experience. By the time I got around to starting it, I had completely forgotten what it was about. I’m currently running about seven months behind in keeping up with ebooks that I’ve won. There are worse problems to have, I suppose. Anyway, I started this blind. So I got to experience the shifting genres (seems like a mystery novel, a police procedural. Wait. Are there supernatural elements? Okay, so horror novel then? Wait. Now we're in medieval Japan. What the hell …?) It was an interesting experience.
Jessica is a police detective investigating a brutal murder of two students, their throats cut with incredible force. But the only weapons visible at the scene are a couple pairs of scissors. Surely no human could muster the force necessary to kill someone by snipping at their face with those? And then a seemingly unrelated case involving the shattering of an ancient samurai sword in the middle of a locked museum brings the soul of a long dead warrior into the mix …
This is the first book in a series. Jessica and the samurai--Hikaru is his name--will apparently be working together for the foreseeable future. In some ways, this book reminds me of the TV series Sleepy Hollow. A man from the past struggles to make sense of the future while fighting supernatural menaces with the help of a female police detective. Works for me.
That said, this book was a bit of a slog. Part of it may simply be my love/hate relationship with ebooks. I’m likely just old and set in my ways, but reading via the Kindle app just doesn't seem as natural to me as reading the dead tree version. The pacing also seems a little off. Mysteries are way slow to reveal themselves. I kept feeling like I was being flung around, like being on a roller coaster in pitch darkness. It was an interesting read, but not an especially pleasurable one. The fault may be more with me than the book itself, but nonetheless I can't recommend it.
Reading this was an interesting experience. By the time I got around to starting it, I had completely forgotten what it was about. I’m currently running about seven months behind in keeping up with ebooks that I’ve won. There are worse problems to have, I suppose. Anyway, I started this blind. So I got to experience the shifting genres (seems like a mystery novel, a police procedural. Wait. Are there supernatural elements? Okay, so horror novel then? Wait. Now we're in medieval Japan. What the hell …?) It was an interesting experience.
Jessica is a police detective investigating a brutal murder of two students, their throats cut with incredible force. But the only weapons visible at the scene are a couple pairs of scissors. Surely no human could muster the force necessary to kill someone by snipping at their face with those? And then a seemingly unrelated case involving the shattering of an ancient samurai sword in the middle of a locked museum brings the soul of a long dead warrior into the mix …
This is the first book in a series. Jessica and the samurai--Hikaru is his name--will apparently be working together for the foreseeable future. In some ways, this book reminds me of the TV series Sleepy Hollow. A man from the past struggles to make sense of the future while fighting supernatural menaces with the help of a female police detective. Works for me.
That said, this book was a bit of a slog. Part of it may simply be my love/hate relationship with ebooks. I’m likely just old and set in my ways, but reading via the Kindle app just doesn't seem as natural to me as reading the dead tree version. The pacing also seems a little off. Mysteries are way slow to reveal themselves. I kept feeling like I was being flung around, like being on a roller coaster in pitch darkness. It was an interesting read, but not an especially pleasurable one. The fault may be more with me than the book itself, but nonetheless I can't recommend it.
October 6, 2018
An excellent start to nicely researched urban fantasy, based on a mix of United Kingdom/Japanese folklore and mythology. Not quite as good as the Peter Grant books, but this shows great promise in future books.
Highly recommended to all urban fantasy fans.
Highly recommended to all urban fantasy fans.
April 13, 2018
I won this in a Goodreads giveaway.
Jessica Cartwright is a Scene of Crime Officer for the London Metropolitan Police. She’s been at this specific department for six months, but she’s seasoned and thus carries the rank of Detective nspector. She is called to go over a grotesque murder scene in a park, featuring two mangled bodies and two pairs of scissors. But there are no clues, so it’s passed on to a higher department - a place where tough cases truly go cold and die.
But Jess ignores her boss Jackson’s orders to leave the case be, and is determined to delve deeper. It’s immediately obvious that scissors are linked to a significant event in her past. I feel really bad for the number of times it’s brought up, since it’s something Jess has fought hard within herself to forget.
The case is weird and seemingly impossible, even as Jess uncovers more clues as to the significance of the scissors. It also happens to be related to murders in Japan from 1979 and 1985 - famous murders, apparently.
Unfortunately, Jess is thrown off the case, and her colleague Rachel becomes more of a main secondary character.
I like how when Jess calls someone, the dialogue is given as a script. It breaks up the “monotony” of traditional prose. It’s also neat that there are multiple Japanese words and phrases that are given and (immediately) translated. Learning about some of Japanese culture is also great. It makes me appreciate Fox’s work even more
The story switches between London and Japan, though the latter is in the past, around 790 CE, and not of this world. I mean, there’s an Oni, a mountain ogre, that attacks the home of the Daimyo. But even before then, a young & newly formed Samurai named Haikaru is sent on his first mission to protect the Daimyo’s youngest daughter, Kushinada, on her first trip away from home. He shows respect for her but then lets his fear take over in his speech, showing his humanity. They’re lovers by the time the orc comes.
The magic of this lore begins to take over. This subplot confused me for about half the book, yet I knew that the sword Haikaru carries is important to Jessica’s case.
ESPECIALLY when Japanese diplomats bring a Samurai sword to be part of the Japanese exhibits at the British museum.
And when the fact that “Samurai are cursed to be reborn as Samurai” is constantly repeated.
The London Shinto Culture Centre sounds peaceful, serene, and beautiful.
Through the Shinto culture of Japanese life, both the reader and Jess learn more about the spirit world as Japanese see it. Sense it. Believe it.
And here, experience it.
It’s not just Jess or the two random victims who deal with past repercussions, but others in town. It leads to some intense scenes that kept me reading and immersed me in the Haikaru subplot.
It was good but I likely won’t be continuing with the series.
Jessica Cartwright is a Scene of Crime Officer for the London Metropolitan Police. She’s been at this specific department for six months, but she’s seasoned and thus carries the rank of Detective nspector. She is called to go over a grotesque murder scene in a park, featuring two mangled bodies and two pairs of scissors. But there are no clues, so it’s passed on to a higher department - a place where tough cases truly go cold and die.
But Jess ignores her boss Jackson’s orders to leave the case be, and is determined to delve deeper. It’s immediately obvious that scissors are linked to a significant event in her past. I feel really bad for the number of times it’s brought up, since it’s something Jess has fought hard within herself to forget.
The case is weird and seemingly impossible, even as Jess uncovers more clues as to the significance of the scissors. It also happens to be related to murders in Japan from 1979 and 1985 - famous murders, apparently.
Unfortunately, Jess is thrown off the case, and her colleague Rachel becomes more of a main secondary character.
I like how when Jess calls someone, the dialogue is given as a script. It breaks up the “monotony” of traditional prose. It’s also neat that there are multiple Japanese words and phrases that are given and (immediately) translated. Learning about some of Japanese culture is also great. It makes me appreciate Fox’s work even more
The story switches between London and Japan, though the latter is in the past, around 790 CE, and not of this world. I mean, there’s an Oni, a mountain ogre, that attacks the home of the Daimyo. But even before then, a young & newly formed Samurai named Haikaru is sent on his first mission to protect the Daimyo’s youngest daughter, Kushinada, on her first trip away from home. He shows respect for her but then lets his fear take over in his speech, showing his humanity. They’re lovers by the time the orc comes.
The magic of this lore begins to take over. This subplot confused me for about half the book, yet I knew that the sword Haikaru carries is important to Jessica’s case.
ESPECIALLY when Japanese diplomats bring a Samurai sword to be part of the Japanese exhibits at the British museum.
And when the fact that “Samurai are cursed to be reborn as Samurai” is constantly repeated.
The London Shinto Culture Centre sounds peaceful, serene, and beautiful.
Through the Shinto culture of Japanese life, both the reader and Jess learn more about the spirit world as Japanese see it. Sense it. Believe it.
And here, experience it.
It’s not just Jess or the two random victims who deal with past repercussions, but others in town. It leads to some intense scenes that kept me reading and immersed me in the Haikaru subplot.
It was good but I likely won’t be continuing with the series.
April 4, 2021
Japanese spirits invade the UK.
This is a book of potential. I loved the premise. The most enjoyable parts were those taking place in ancient Japanese myth.
The modern parts in London, not so much. The police procedures (or lack thereof) made the police force look incompetent. Jessica (our police detective heroine) seemed to have forced interactions with other people that never seemed realistic. Her back story was cliché. (The number one reason I put a mystery back on the shelf is if the detective was a victim.)
But this wasn't about a mystery, it was about the supernatural. And that part was interesting. I do want to read the next book n the series and find out what happens in the spirit battles.
I just hope it is clearer, more detailed and no chapters that are written like scripts because it's a phone call.
This is a book of potential. I loved the premise. The most enjoyable parts were those taking place in ancient Japanese myth.
The modern parts in London, not so much. The police procedures (or lack thereof) made the police force look incompetent. Jessica (our police detective heroine) seemed to have forced interactions with other people that never seemed realistic. Her back story was cliché. (The number one reason I put a mystery back on the shelf is if the detective was a victim.)
But this wasn't about a mystery, it was about the supernatural. And that part was interesting. I do want to read the next book n the series and find out what happens in the spirit battles.
I just hope it is clearer, more detailed and no chapters that are written like scripts because it's a phone call.
June 1, 2019
Pretty interesting, a different type of story, reads a lot like an anime but in a good way :)
October 25, 2022
Good read for a first book.
A good read for a first book. The story made a good connection between Shinto and English paganism. Look forward to the next in the series..
A good read for a first book. The story made a good connection between Shinto and English paganism. Look forward to the next in the series..
March 5, 2020
Won in a goodreads giveaway. It was fine. The first 2/3 was really well paced and nice. The last bit felt rushed and incomplete.
January 4, 2016
The Scissors and the Sword is a fast paced mystery/supernatural thriller. Jessica Cartwright is a British detective involved in a murder investigation.
Soon Jessica finds herself projected in an unusual investigation full of turns and twists. She has to face the revenge of a ghost with an ancient Japanese sword as her only weapon. A spirit samurai will be at her side.
Giving this a 4 instead of a perfect 5 purely out of a personal tilt, as I'm not the biggest fan of supernatural stories. Once the supernatural stuff comes into the plot, it continues in that direction for the rest of the book. I enjoyed it, just it isn't to my usual taste. I would recommend The Scissor and the Sword to lovers of mystery stories with some supernatural elements.
Soon Jessica finds herself projected in an unusual investigation full of turns and twists. She has to face the revenge of a ghost with an ancient Japanese sword as her only weapon. A spirit samurai will be at her side.
Giving this a 4 instead of a perfect 5 purely out of a personal tilt, as I'm not the biggest fan of supernatural stories. Once the supernatural stuff comes into the plot, it continues in that direction for the rest of the book. I enjoyed it, just it isn't to my usual taste. I would recommend The Scissor and the Sword to lovers of mystery stories with some supernatural elements.
Want to read
February 27, 2018Placeholder
I won this book via Goodreads Giveaways.
I won this book via Goodreads Giveaways.
May 25, 2018
This was very entertaining and fast paced mystery. It had all the elements I love: crime, mythology, history, London and Japan. There was not single boring moment. Only complain I would have is that I would liked it to be longer :D but thankfully there's going to be more books on the series!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews