Peter faces something more daunting than anything he has
encountered previously… the countryside.
The London cop is heading to rural Herefordshire on a missing children’s case – it’s not the Folly’s case but it’s always best to check on local supernaturals just be sure there isn’t any magical nefariousness with children. Usually it’s more mundane and this looked like another case
But as Peter stays around to help, more and more of the
mystical is clearly involved; there is definitely something unnatural going on
(beyond the foody pubs with the heritage sausages).
I love this series. I love the world setting with its
quirkiness, it’s fun, the broad range of supernatural creatures and Peter
happily trying to fit them all into police procedure. Yes we will have fae and ridiculous
acronyms and proper police filing and budget concerns!
In some ways, this story is very slowly paced – because it
closely follows a police investigation which is inherently slow. We have procedures
and false leads and crossing t’s and dotting I’s and red herrings as well as
the whole mystical research side of things and Peter being so completely off
his patch. We don’t run from action to action –but it still really works
because of the excellent writing, tone, world building and general sense of
realism to the book. It’s not full of action after action – and it would feel
wrong if it were. That’s not how police investigations work, it’s not how a
missing kid investigation works and it’s not how Peter, the Follow et al work.
Part of the glory of this book is that it’s an Urban Fantasy police story that
doesn’t involve people running around with gunfights until the bad guy decides
to conveniently kidnap the protagonist so no-one has to do any investigating or
deal with actual investigative forces or officialdom except in the most
tangential manner. This has a level of realism I can really feel - and because
of that even small bit characters stand out as actual people (though it helps
that each is given their own little quirks and originality).
Of course, it’s also not slow because it’s immensely
amusing and extremely funny. I read most of this book with a big grin on my
face.
I have always loved how every British this series is and
this book is no exception. The tone, the snark – oh the glorious snark (the
wonderful glorious snark) – the nice little asides and interactions and wry
observations – it’s just so very British. The tone of the whole book just oozes
Britishness in such authenticity that I don’t think I’ve ever seen in another
book. I’ve never seen a series that had such a powerful sense of setting. It’s
lots of little things, like hilarious little snarks about the Daily Mail (and
their dreaded view of Europe, Asylum Seekers or anyone else), or how the police
are actually quite eager to shift their cases to the Folly because then it’s
not THEIR budgets they have to mine for resources.
