- "My friend Hanna used to say there's no bigger bastard than someone who thinks they're a hero.""If that's true, there's no better place to be a hero than New Montres."
Thessa is a young noblewoman who has an unfortunate run-in with a werewolf on her engagement night. Lokenn is a fugitive necromancer, out to restore the reputation of himself and his maligned art. Corlis is an innkeeper with a dying aunt and rapidly mounting debts.
In a string of bad luck and worse decisions, the three of them end up neck-deep in an undercover investigation they had nothing to do with. Soon enough, they're skulking in warehouses, dining with crime lords, and occasionally bleeding in alleys. The powers that be give them three days to find answers, but the real question is whether they can stand each other that long.
Meanwhile, at the other end of town, Officer Nella works on a murder case that has nothing to do with them — except that it involves the same warehouse, the same crime lord, and also Lokenn.
Published in 2022, A Bad Place to Be a Hero is the first volume of the planned "Bad Series" of fantasy mysteries by Jerry F. Westinger. The direct sequel, A Bad Time to Meet the Family has been announced for an early 2023 release.
A bad list of tropes to be found in the book
- All of the Other Reindeer: Thessa's considerably younger than her three sisters, who would routinely gang up to make fun of her when she was young.
- Anti-Hero: Pretty much the entire main cast, except Nel.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Thaumaturgy works by trapping specific types of elemental spirits in properly cut quartz crystals.
- Attempted Rape: Estrum's fatal mistake.
- Back from the Dead: Corlis, but not Lokenn.
- Badass Normal: Corlis can hold his own against much more powerful people using nothing but his wit.
- Beta Couple: Nel and Mainu, as implied by the final chapter.
- Biomanipulation: This world's version of necromancy includes any supernatural modification of the human body, including healing.
- Bittersweet Ending: The story closes with the mystery solved and the characters released, but they know the real culprits won't suffer any real consequences.
- Black Comedy
- Body Horror: Implied. As Lokenn explains, most werewolves don't survive their first transformation, and many end up horribly disfigured.
- Break the Haughty: Corlis treats Thessa and Lokenn like this for the first half of the story, failing to realize that he is the one who needs to gain some perspective.
- Chekhov's Gun
- Rasser's habit of paying in Werrish currency.
- Lokenn's spare crystal.
- Crapsack World: Crime, corruption and terrible parenting are rife in this world.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Lokenn, by way of the paladins' thaumaturgic collars. The actual death happens in the middle of a scene cut, and the other characters are mercifully spared from the sight itself.
- Deadpan Snarker: Corlis is a fairly typical variety. Lokenn also gets in some barbs, though more subtle ones.
- Explosive Leash: To make sure the characters don't escape the city, the paladins put thaumaturgic collars on them that explode if they go too far from a certain point.
- Finagle's Law: Nothing ever goes according to plan.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The main characters start off by actively trying to screw each other over, and come out on the other end as friends. The ones that survive, anyway.
- Foil: Thessa's open and passionate nature versus the aloof and calculating Corlis.
- Foreshadowing: "You would sooner die than say 'Thank you'."
- From Bad to Worse: Arguably most of the plot.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Despite the grim setting, the harshest word in the book is "piss". Instead, characters use Ardonnese idioms like "drown me" or "rot in the deep dark".
- Jerkass: Estrum is at the very least this, before his last moments with Thessa. Gramonte also hints he's much worse.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Corlis attempts to frame Lokenn for murder, but ends up being arrested alongside him.
- It's All My Fault: In their Darkest Hour, Thessa blames herself for all that happened. Corlis, who spent the majority of the story trying to prove her wrong about everything, does exactly the same thing now and explains why she's the least at fault out of everyone.
- Kangaroo Court: Corlis, Thessa and Lokenn's trial lasts about half an hour before they're all sentenced to death.
- Knight Templar: General Stultus and Major Gramonte.
- Magic A Is Magic A: Both thaumaturgy and necromancy have strict and clearly defined limitations.
- Man Behind the Man: Major Gramonte was behind the quartz smuggling that Estrum was investigating.
- Manipulative Bastard: Corlis and Gramonte.
- Nice Girl: Porla the coach driver.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: In this world, werewolves are the result of necromantic experiments, and have no connection to the moon (although they can only transform by night).
- Pyrrhic Victory: Corlis and Thessa survive the ordeal, but Lokenn doesn't.
- Sequel Hook: The very last scene in the book shows a lawyer poring over birth records in search of an abandoned child.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Though it's clearly on the cynical end about the world as a whole, the story also puts great emphasis on the importance of trust and forgiveness.
- Status Quo Is God: The characters are put through hell, and at the end gain nothing but their freedom and each other.
- The Unfavorite: Thessa's parents are clearly less invested in her future than her sisters'.
- Villainous Breakdown: General Stultus does not handle defeat well.
- Wretched Hive: New Montres (see page quote).
