Moon Over Soho

The second book in the series replaces London's theatrical history with jazz music, as Grant investigates the magical murder of a musician. This brings in more of his family background, as well as expanding on the world of magical Britain, and we also see more of his boss's backstory.

Perhaps the two things that stand out most about this book are the details of the police work and the obvious love for the London setting. The former are unusually authentic for a book that's as much about dark wizards and supernatural beings as it is about a murder mystery (and honestly, whodunnit isn't that hard to work out - the real mystery is in the why). The latter comes across in the use of real locations, and the asides about the city's culture and history. One can almost feel the discomfort when Grant has to head out to Norfolk to follow up a lead.

Once again, though, there's the beauty of Aaronovitch's style, combining light irreverence and fast-paced action with some quite gory (and definitely not kid-friendly) detail. It successfully steers a middle line between say, the remorseless grimness of Paul Cornell's London Falling and the comedic tones of something like Gail Carriger's Parasolverse, and is much the stronger for it. It's another great outing in what's turning into a high-quality series... and the final line opens up a whole new set of possibilities for future books.