Shortlisted for the Galaxy UK New Writer of the Year Award 2011.
A new series by a Doctor Who writer (the second volume MOON OVER SOHO is out now) this is an engaging mix that reads a little like a more adult version of Harry Potter and will appeal to both adult and younger readers. Peter Grant is a young probationary constable seconded to Inspector Nightingale, who also happens to be the last wizard in England. Their adventures in an exquisitely-drawn London full of grotesques and untold horror uncover the city's fantastic underbelly and the two characters prove wonderfully endearing. Magic and police procedural make for successful bedmates.
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ...and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.
Ben Aaronovitch was born and raised in London and all his work has reflected his abiding fascination and love for what he modestly likes to refer to as the 'Capital of the World'. He works as a bookseller when he is not writing novels and TV scripts.
