Lord Darcy

Lord Darcy is a recurring character in the guide’s catalog, identified most directly through the entries Lord Darcy Investigates and Lord Darcy. His decisive significance is therefore double: he functions as a named detective figure in his own right, while also anchoring a work explicitly organized around investigation. The catalog’s classification places these appearances within its genre-and-rating system rather than treating them as isolated titles.

Identity and Classification

Lord Darcy’s clearest identity is that of a sleuth. Lord Darcy Investigates carries the code “SU-C-3.5,” while Lord Darcy carries “SO-O-3.5.” The guide defines “SL” as “Sleuth,” “SU” as “Supernatural Fantasy,” and “SO” as “Sorcery Fantasy”; its code key also distinguishes the first position, second position, and end position of each classification. The available entries thus associate Lord Darcy with investigative fiction while also placing his named works in fantasy-coded categories.

The ratings attached to both Lord Darcy entries are 3.5, giving the two records a notable formal parallel. At the same time, their different codes suggest that the guide does not reduce the character to a single genre label: Lord Darcy Investigates and Lord Darcy occupy related but distinct catalog positions. That contrast makes the character a useful marker of genre overlap, where detective premises coexist with supernatural or sorcery-fantasy framing.

Works and Recurrence

The guide lists Lord Darcy Investigates before Lord Darcy, making investigation the most explicit action associated with the character. The former title presents him through a verb of inquiry, while the latter presents him as the central named figure. Even without plot details, the pairing establishes a progression from the character’s activity as an investigator to his recognition as the subject of a standalone title.

Lord Darcy also appears amid a wider sequence of entries by Randall Garrett: The Ipswich Phial, Lauralyn, Lord Darcy Investigates, Lord Darcy, The Man Who Hated Mars, and A Matter Of Gravity. This placement connects the character records to an author-centered cluster rather than to unrelated catalog fragments. The surrounding titles indicate a body of work moving among fantasy, science fiction, and investigative modes, while the two Lord Darcy entries form the most visibly coherent character-centered pair in that sequence.

Genre Position and Narrative Function

The character’s catalog identity depends on a productive tension between method and setting. “Investigates” promises the ordered examination of a case, clues, and causes; the fantasy classifications place that examination in a world governed by forces or assumptions beyond ordinary realism. Lord Darcy therefore represents not merely a detective label but a hybrid narrative function: rational inquiry is retained as the organizing activity even when the surrounding genre is sorcery fantasy or supernatural fantasy.

The guide’s ratings reinforce this hybrid position without supplying a plot synopsis. Both principal entries receive the same 3.5 rating, so the available evidence supports continuity in the guide’s evaluation while preserving a distinction between the investigative title and the character title. The result is a compact but recognizable literary profile: Lord Darcy is defined by recurrence, investigation, and movement across adjacent fantasy categories rather than by a single isolated appearance.