On an earth much different than our own, people are able to transport themselves from one place to another and one universe to another by using the gates which are constructed in part from fairy gold. The elves control the distribution of fair gold just as they block anyone from any of the diverse universes from traveling to Alfheim, the elfin world.

Lanthanomancer Lee Enfield and her partner Galert, a madrin (a wolfhound the size of a horse that talks and is very intelligent) use their sight and scent to see below the surface at crime scenes and while interrogating perpetrators. The duo is so good at what they do that they are sent at their government’s bequest into Alfheim to find out why elves are killing elves. Before they know it they are caught in a civil uprising that unless stopped, could mean a massive war throughout the known universes.

Dianne Duane, long known and respected for her excellent work, has gifted her readers with a unique view of the Fay that make it seem as if another species has been discovered by the author. Her protagonists are a superb working team whose personalities mesh so well they are better together then apart in a kind of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. STEALING THE ELF-KING’S ROSES is a fascinating mixture of political and inter-dimensional travel inside a fantasy science fiction plot.

Harriet Klausner