Lies Sleeping, by Ben Aaronovitch. Daw Books, 2018
This is the conclusion of the Faceless Man (ver. 2.0) arc that has carried through all the previous Rivers of London books and graphic novels. Narrator Peter Grant has had a lot of adventures through the series, but this arc has always hung over him. Finally it comes to a close ( Read more... )

The October Man, by Ben Aaronovitch. Subterranean Press, 2019I’ve been waiting impatiently for the next episode in the “Rivers of London” series, so I was delighted to spot this on the library’s ‘new books’ rack. Then I discovered that even though it’s considered part of that series, it’s not set in London and the characters are all new ( Read more... )

Lipstick Voodoo, by Kristi Charish. Vintage Canada, 2018
Kincaid Strange can’t get a break. She’s a necromancer who raises the dead for a living. Like people who shoot the messenger, clients aren’t always pleased with what their dearly departed have to say when she raises them, and they take that out of Kincaid. So how to pay the rent is just her ( Read more... )

Blood and Mistletoe (Ivy Granger, Psychic Detective, by E.J. Stevens. Sacred Oaks Publishing, 2012 Harborsmouth might as well be named Hellmouth. It’s a hub of supernatural activity, and Ivy Granger, half fae princess, psychic, and private eye, has the ability to see all the non-human beings that inhabit it. Her housekeeper is a brownie (not the ( Read more... )

Smoke City, by Keith Rosson. Meerkat Press, 2018 In the near future, ghosts referred to as “smokes” have started appearing in southern California and northern Mexico, with Los Angeles as smoke central. These ghosts don’t go ‘boo’; they do not interact with people at all. They just show up, do their thing, and disappear ( Read more... )

The Hanging Tree, by Ben Aaronovitch. DAW Books, 2016 In this most recent of the Rivers of London series, Constable Peter Grant is back in London, but still in a territory he’s unfamiliar with. This time it’s the realm of the very rich ( Read more... )

Foxglove Summer, by Ben Aaronovitch. Daw Books, 2014 This is the fifth book in the Rivers of London series starring Peter Grant, London police constable and wizard in training. This time, he’s sent to the countryside to see if a case has any magical component to it. Two young girls have vanished, and the local PD hasn’t turned anything up yet. At ( Read more... )

The Changeling, by Victor Lavalle. Spiegel and Grau, 2017 “The Changeling” starts out slowly. Apollo Kagwa is the son of a hard working nurse and a father who abandoned them when Apollo was four. When Apollo meets Emma Valentine at the library, and they get married and she gets pregnant, he vows he will be a father who gets it right. He’ll be there ( Read more... )

Black City Saint, by Richard A. Knaak. Pyr, 2016 You could call this book historical urban fantasy noir. Set in Chicago in the 1920s, the narrator is a sort of exorcist. He puts ads in papers that only those who need him can see, then goes and removes the ghosts and demons that are haunting them. His unusualness goes beyond this, though; his body ( Read more... )

The Righteous and the Wicked, by Derek Cavignano. 2014 This is a work of urban fantasy/science fiction that never stops moving. Widowed accountant Jacob Hanley is about to eat lunch at a restaurant when an old man collapses in front of him, warning him about Symbios and the Great Elder, and dies. When the EMTs take the body away, Jacob discovers ( Read more... )