The motivating force of this novel, typical of the murder-mystery genre, stems from society's desire for the rule of justice to be ascendant over the anarchy of crime. Garrett has taken this concept one step further by introducing the element of fantasy into his detective story, setting it in an "alternate earth" with alternative but quite logical rules, where the human need for justice and order still prevails. Although this fictional world has a kindlier history than the real world, Too Many Magicians is set in no Utopia; its men and women have the same frailties, the same ill-luck, that entangle people in crime in the real world.

Individual responsibility for maintaining justice and order, an old-fashioned and unwritten code of conduct which might be labeled "honor," is strongly evident in the world of Lord Darcy. Christian chivalry did not die out, to be replaced, of...