Murder by Death

This series started off with a chimera/gargoyle brought to life through backwards alchemy approaching the MC, pleading for help, as he was starting to revert to stone again.

This book is the conclusion of that particular series plot, while at the same time introducing a couple of other mysteries, including a murder.

The characters keep me coming back to these books, as does the alchemy backdrop which is always fun.  But the stories could do with a bit of tougher editing; it was difficult to get into the story at the beginning because of all the repetition of information.  I think the MC mentioned she was 300 years old at least 3 times in as many pages.

The plotting was great - I had little idea where the story was going - but the ending, especially the part concerning the gargoyle, felt a little to pat, a little too anticlimactic.  

It's a fun story with great characters, but if it had been a bit tighter all the way around, it would have been great.