Los Angeles after the Second World War has vampires, zombies and demons living among its ordinary citizens. Harry Turtledove's hard-boiled detective takes a case built on a dead body, a vanished musician and rune magic.
Readical Key Points
Book two of the City of Shadows series; the publisher presents it as a standalone mystery
Hard-boiled detective story crossed with urban fantasy, set in 1940s Los Angeles
Hardcover, 304 pages, CAEZIK SF & Fantasy, 2026
The killing at the center of the case runs on magic, which puts it beyond the reach of the Los Angeles police. Following it takes the detective from Central Avenue's jazz clubs to the repair bays of neighborhood garages, where rune magic is feeding a new source of power that the ordinary city does not yet understand. Turtledove tells it in a noir first person, with the supernatural treated as one more part of the city's underworld.
Readers of classic private-eye fiction, alternate history and urban fantasy will find all three here. The series began with Twice as Dead. New readers can begin with this book, and anyone who wants the city's earlier case can go back to the first one afterward.
About the Author
Harry Turtledove is a New York Times bestselling author whose honors include the Hugo and Sidewise Awards, and Publishers Weekly has called him the Master of Alternate History. He lives in the San Fernando Valley.
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