Book: Whispers Underground By Ben Arronovitch (2012)

"It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world. At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well." 

With the third book in this Rivers of London (or Peter Grant) series, Ben Aaronvitch continues to explore the magical world that exists –mostly unnoticed- in the United Kingdom. Yes, it can be a dull procedural that mixes in Harry Potter magic (something that gets dropped a lot here), but Peter remains a witty, droll apprentice wizard and cop. Aaronovitch’s love of history is also on display, as well as his wry observation on the architecture of London. While the tales starts with a murder –the son of an American senator- most of the novel is about the what exits under the streets of London, where Aaronovitch can expand his universe by taking on fables, with a nod to the Linda Hamilton/Ron Pearlman TV series Beauty and the Beast, The Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy tales that include fairies, trolls, goblins, and even an earth bender. Whispers Underground also as the world of art, graffitist, the Underground, Raves, Portobello Road markets,  the history of the urbanization of London, and hints at Chinese sorcery to the mix. I was also pleasantly surprised to see the lone FBI agent not become an American caricature, here. She is intelligent and capable of handling herself, including the idea that magic exists. The whole Christian part is barely acknowledged. 

Much like Peter Grant, though, who’s lack of focus as a wizard-in-training, can be distracting, Aaronovitch does go off on tangents which can appear to slow the story down. I mean, in the end, the murder of an American student becomes less and less important as the story progresses. Still, I enjoyed it and will probably now continue to read the six other books currently in the series in the months ahead.