Moon Over Soho: The Second PC Grant Mystery: The Second Rivers of London novel - Hardcover

Aaronovitch, Ben

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0575097604 ISBN 13: 9780575097605

Publisher: Gollancz, 2011

Synopsis

I was my dad's vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that's how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it's why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn't the first.

No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn't trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus' ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens' portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.

And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard 'Lord' Grant - my father - who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That's the thing about policing: most of the time you're doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you're doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you're doing it for revenge.

About this title

Review:

Told in a narrative voice that seasons laconic humour with a dash of cynicism, the novel is fascinated with the geography and history of London. It is a rich formula with a bittersweet ending. Terrific entertainment and ripe for a series. (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH)

Moon Over Soho is easily as good as its predecessor, but with added jazz. Moon Over Soho is a truly fun read, although it is somewhat darker than its predecessor, and it is also very much an adult book. (THE BOOK ZONE)

Moon Over Soho is highly readable and hugely enjoyable. Definitely a book not to miss! (LOVEVAMPIRES.COM)

The climax is both exhilarating and emotionally affecting, a sign again that Aaronovitch's skills with character will be what bring people back to this series. (SF REVIEWS)

I'm pleased say I loved this one just as much as the first book, I love Peter's incisive and often humorous commentary on police procedures, London itself, and the fantasy word he now inhabits, it makes the book so much fun to read. One of the other things that comes though strongly is not just Peter's but also Ben Aaronovitch's love of the capital. (BART'S BOOKSHELF)

I enjoyed Moon Over soho immensely. I look forward to the next installment in Peter Grant's rise to the ranks of professional Wizardry. (British Fantasy Society)

Book Description:

Peter Grant is not just a lowly detective Constable, he's also apprenticed to the last wizard in Britain: policing will never be the same again!

About this edition

• Publisher: Gollancz
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0575097604
• ISBN 13: 9780575097605
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384