Wind Skirled

Murder Bound, xiv.

In Poul Anderson's fiction, we find:

pathetic fallacy as textually embedded as punctuation;
the wind as a commentator on the action;
fantasy, either actual or implied.

"'Like Benrud's own draug. Does he go back under water by day? Is he clinging to our keel this minute?'
"Wind skirled in the open door." (p. 125)

In Anderson's prose, "Wind skirled..." comes immediately after the dialogue just as naturally as the question mark and the inverted comma.

However, the character whose politics suggest that he is an atheist, hits back:

"Torvald slammed it. 'Horse apples,' he said." (ibid.)

So much for draugs and wind! This is a contemporary mystery novel, not a Dark Ages fantasy - although Anderson certainly presents draugs, gods and other supernatural beings in their proper place. Read whichever you prefer - preferably both.