Poison City – Paul Crilley

The name’s Gideon Tau, but everyone just calls me London. I work for the Delphic Division, the occult investigative unit of the South African Police Service. My life revolves around two things – finding out who killed my daughter and imagining what I’m going to do to the bastard when I catch him.

I have two friends. The first is my boss, Armitage, a fifty-something DCI from Yorkshire who looks more like someone’s mother than a cop. Don’t let that fool you. The second is the dog, my magical spirit guide. He talks, he watches TV all day, and he’s a mean drunk.

Life is pretty routine – I solve crimes, I search for my daughter’s killer. Wash, rinse, repeat. Until the day I’m called out to the murder of a ramanga – a low-key vampire – basically, the tabloid journalist of the vampire world. It looks like an open and shut case. There’s even CCTV footage of the killer.

Except… the face on the CCTV footage? It’s the face of the man who killed my daughter. I’m about to face a tough choice. Catch her killer or save the world? I can’t do both.

It’s not looking good for the world.

Oof. It’s been a bumper year for awesome books, and Paul Crilley’s Poison City sits firmly on the List Of Books Dave Will Insist You Read (Or Else). List needs a snappier title. Suggestions welcome.

So this is another one for your to-read lists (whatever you might call them). Imagine Harry Potter grew up, moved to South Africa and adopted a sherry-loving spirit guide called Dog – a hard-boiled urban fantasy detective noir
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It’s like a bit of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London mixed with Paul Cornell’s Shadow Police, with a healthy dash of Lauren Beukes.

And I *love* all three of those authors.

Great characters, fabulously sarcastic spirit guides and a boss from Yorkshire.

Very *very* recommended. Not for the faint-hearted.

You can read chapter one here

Thanks to the lovely folks at @Hodderscape for the advance review copy. You can find Paul on twitter @PaulCrilley