Did anyone else notice...

[quill-shadow.livejournal.com]

...that one of the deus ex machina's in the Merry Gentry series gets used to stifle the plot? I admit, I didn't at first, but I have the fourth book at home (sadly enough, I paid full price for it) and just leafed through a few pages at random recently. In book four, for those fortunate souls who haven't read it, there is a murder in the sithen and mortal police are actually called in to investigate. Merry, since she OF COURSE knows how mortal laws work AND is of the court, is all for trying to solve the murder herself - but the Chalice (or Goblet, or whatever LKH calls the thing) appears in the hallway and starts zapping her with you will have sex now beams until she gives up because she can't concentrate.

Seriously. LKH sabotaged her own plot with her own plot device. I now have an image of different areas of her subconscious battling it out, with 'plot', backed into a corner, throwing in the murder and going, "Hah! Drama! Tension! SOMETHING DIFFERENT!" and 'sex' glaring and saying, "But you will lose because she gave me THIS!" and shoving the Cup into the mix.

I think that 'plot' has since either died, or decided, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."