"The Chatty Dead" by Max Fry, summary Automatic translate

This book is a humorous fantasy detective story, published in 1999. The usual detective story structure is disrupted. The protagonist comes face to face with his own inner fears and powerful illusions. The boundaries between reality and a deadly magical obsession blur. The reader sees the characters overcome their own weaknesses and correct the consequences of others’ magical experiments.

This novel is the seventh book in the popular "Labyrinths of Echo" series, which tells the story of Sir Max’s adventures in a magical world. It is preceded by "The Power of the Unfulfilled" and continues the "Labyrinth of Menin" series.

The Mystery of the Oak Leaf Club

The story begins with the Old City police officers on duty encountering an inexplicable phenomenon. A three-story building is slowly floating through the air above the streets of Echo. Sir Kofa Yoh discovers an interesting detail. The flying house turns out to be a duplicate of a real building on Bubble Street, which periodically disappears without a trace. The real building is rented by the Oak Leaves Club. Elderly retired masters of disbanded orders gather there once every dozen days. Initially, the Secret Investigation suspects the old men of using illicit, high-level magic. Juffin Hally interrogates them and quickly realizes something strange: the former masters have lost their vitality and are on the verge of insanity.

Max and his colleagues discover the true culprits behind the magical commotion. They turn out to be young, ambitious servants of the club members. The teenagers, led by the determined Aysa, accidentally found King Myungin’s diary in Max’s bedroom. They copied the mysterious Spell of the Old Kings from it. Using this text, the servants siphoned off the energy of their elderly employers through unfinished drinks.

Having wielded incredible power, the teenagers caused a ruckus in the city out of boredom. They even urinated on the roof of the Order of the Seven-Leafed Iafah residence. Sir Kofa Yoh easily arrests the conspirators in the Rendezvous Quarter using his famous invisible cap. During interrogation, Max offers the juvenile delinquents a choice. They can go to the harsh Kholomi prison or accept exile outside the United Kingdom. The group disbands. Four young mages choose prison over the chance to remain in the Heart of the World, while the rest depart for voluntary exile towards the Kuman Caliphate.

The Chatty Dead Man

The peace doesn’t last long. The detectives are confronted with the catastrophic consequences of the publication of the scandalous memoirs of the recently deceased Yongi Melihais. The brother of the Secret Investigation treasurer is revealed to be the author of a text that threatens the reputation of King Gurig VIII. The writings reveal the secrets of the monarch’s underground organization and Sir Juffin Halli himself. Furthermore, Yongi confesses to joint financial fraud with City Police General Bubuta Boh. Upon learning of the deceased’s impunity, the capital’s residents begin to violate the Code of Hrember en masse. Ordinary citizens everywhere indulge in forbidden magic, creating flying dragons and coloring the waters of the Huron River.

Sir Juffin Hally convinces the crowd that the memoirs are fabricated. However, to completely end the chaos, he must force Yongi’s own soul to publicly recant the text. Traveling to the Corridor between Worlds requires an inhuman entity. Juffin casts an ancient spell and merges Max’s consciousness with the body of his beloved dog, Droopy. The hero transforms into a sinister, muscular creature with the head of a jackal. In this guise, he sets out for Humgat.

There, Max discovers an illusory reality created by the late Yongi, arrests the stunned spirit of the dead man, and returns him to Echo. The ghost addresses the crowd in the Square of Spectacles and Amusements. He declares his writings a fabrication intended to amuse Eternity. The reputations of the country’s top officials are restored. The townspeople cease their magical riots, fearing mass arrests. Sir Shurf Lonli-Lockli manages to pacify some of the rioters with blows from his paralyzing right hand. General Bubuta passes the Eye of Wrath test and miraculously retains his position.

A Legacy for Lonely-Lockley

Soon, Sir Shurf Lonely-Lockley receives an unexpected inheritance. The ghost of his wife’s great-uncle grants him the rights to a farm in the mountains of remote Hotta County. Lonely-Lockley forces Max to accompany him as a driver for his car. The journey is beset by a series of strange hallucinations. An unknown ill-wisher sends Max’s childhood fears into his mind: a giant hissing goose, a frightening multi-story unfinished building, a black spitting crow, and an ominous ambulance. Max calmly navigates these illusions.

Arriving at the Kutykov family home, the detectives encounter open hostility from the household. Numerous relatives of Shurf’s wife attempt to poison their guests with a foul-smelling brew. They dig a pit in the yard, concealed by a rug, with protruding blades, and drop a huge stone over the front door. Shurf maintains his Olympian composure. He wants to investigate the disappearance of the legitimate heir, the deceased’s youngest son, named Urmago. The investigation reveals the guilt of the elder brother, Markulo. He turns out to be a skilled, albeit blunt, sorcerer, terrorizing the entire family with hypnosis. Markulo is indirectly responsible for the death of the drunkard Purekh, who accidentally fell into a pit set up in the yard.

To find Urmago, Max uses Invisible Magic. He explores the memory of the stonework of the abandoned tower. It turns out that the young man and his sister, Uli, were experimenting with spells that allowed them to pass through solid objects. As a result, Urmago became stuck inside a monolithic stone wall. Max breaks through the barrier of reality, penetrates the stone, and throws the young man from the third floor onto a haystack Uli had prepared. Finding the rightful heir alive, Sir Shurf is relieved to transfer the rights to Kutykov Castle to him. The heroes return to the capital with the talking dog, Dreamarondo, who has adopted Shurf’s academic manner of speaking.

Book of Fire Pages

The final story plunges the protagonist into an abyss of despair and paranoia. It all begins with a sudden meeting at the House by the Bridge. Juffin gloomily informs his subordinates of the imminent bloom of the Empty Heart. This ancient magical plant is capable of driving the entire population of Echo mad. According to the chief, the flower can only be stopped by drinking its fill of human blood. Upon hearing of the imminent catastrophe, Sir Shurf immediately resigns and rides away.

Lady Melamori also leaves the capital in panic, cutting off all ties with Max. Juffin bluntly tells Max that he’s been grooming him all these years for one purpose — to serve as a ritual sacrifice. The chief forbids the remaining detectives from leaving the city. He cynically wants to make them spectators of the upcoming horrific spectacle. Max tries unsuccessfully to persuade his friends to escape.

Distraught over the betrayal of his colleagues and the cruelty of his mentor, Max defects to the Dark Side. He hopes to confront Juffin on his own turf, where his wishes are instantly fulfilled. The Kettari Hunter who appears there is ruthless, cold, and arrogant.

In a fit of rage, Max carelessly shouts a curse. He orders everything to be consumed by blue flame. Due to the physical laws of the Dark Side, careless words immediately turn into a devastating catastrophe. Juffin burns in ultramarine fire. The surrounding fantasy world turns to gray ash. Max awaits an agonizing death, sitting on the cold stones of his desolate home planet.

Suddenly, Max awakens in Juffin’s cozy, bright office in Echo. It turns out that the threat of the end of the world, the flight of his friends, the boss’s cynicism, and the destruction of a beautiful world were all just an incredibly powerful hallucination. This realistic nightmare gave birth to a most dangerous artifact of the Age of Orders. The day before, Max accidentally found a thick red tome in his abandoned library. The Book of Fiery Pages was created by the mad Master Droggi Arinrich. This magical object forces the reader to relive their deepest, most hidden fears.

Sir Shurf Lonli-Lockli snatched the cursed tome from his friend’s hands just in time, saving his mind from complete destruction. Having recovered from the shock, Max is finally convinced of a happy ending. He is reassured after listening to the talking dog Dreamarondo’s high-flown literary analysis of Master Drogga’s strange magical poetry.