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“The song. That’s what London
constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines
the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant,
who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The
notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that
something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead
supernatural. Body and soul—they’re also what Peter will risk as he
investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of
his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last
registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado
Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads
right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz
musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard “Lord” Grant—otherwise known
as Peter’s dear old dad.”
In 2011, Aaronovitch began a series of
urban fantasy novels that added the aspect of also being a police procedural,
thus, Midnight Riot was the first volume (though it was released in England
under its original title, Rivers of London). That novel centered on the
adventures of Peter Grant, a young officer in the Metropolitan Police force
who, after an unexpected encounter with a ghost, is recruited into the small
branch of the Met that deals with magic and the supernatural (a cross between The
X Files, Harry Potter, and CSI). So Grant becomes the first English apprentice
wizard in over seventy years, now deals with the weird side of London and its
surrounding villages.
It’s been six years since I read the
first book, always meaning to get to them, but I never felt an urgent need to
do it. But Moon over Soho surprised me and reminded me why I liked the first
book, even though this sub-genre of fantasy, Urban Fantasy, is not always my
cup of tea (I find them a bit formulaic). I mean, I get why they sell, as do offer
a world set in places readers can identify with. Some non-fantasy readers have
difficulties conceptualizing things like Rivendale, Gandalf, and orcs, but when
a book is set in a modern city with modern, easily understandable locations,
objects and names, the reader feels more connected to the story and the
characters. I guess.
Meanwhile, Aaronvitch does gets the reader
updated with the events of the first book, some of which I forgot, but we also
get a continued detail history of the famous city and music genre of Jazz.
Peter is also a likable hero, flawed, with a smart mouth, but charming none the less. This book series is also diverse –Peter is biracial and Muslim Detective Constable Sahra Guleed- but it’s well paced until it isn’t –it could’ve used a better editor. And despite some misgivings about setting up a third book (it’s ballooned to nine, now), I still enjoyed the book. We’ll see how long before I get to book three…
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