My colleague Wendy was living in London for several months this year and when she came back she brought a list of new authors we should try out. Aaronovitch is at the top of that list for me. His first book Rivers of London (Midnight Riot in the US) was the choice for 'London Reads'.
I never thought I'd say the words perfect blend of grown up Harry Potter and police procedural but that's about the size of it. In Aaronovitch's London, magic is a lost art, there is only one magician left, Thomas Nightingale and he's a Detective Inspector with the Met in charge of a department that investigates crimes that don't have a natural cause. West Indian PC Peter Grant comes to Nightingale's attention when he interviews a most unusual witness to a murder, a ghost. Peter becomes Nightingale's apprentice and a whole new world opens up to him, a world of ghosts, vampires, vestigium, magical spells and rivers like the Thames which have their own guardians and diplomatic problems. With enough plot twists and characters that you can't help liking this is a great series to get into if you're a fan of the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler or you grew up with Harry Potter.
The books so far are
Rivers of London (Midnight Riot)
Moon over Soho
Whispers Underground
Broken Homes
Foxglove Summer
Hanging Tree
Lies Sleeping
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