Tuesday 23 June 2015

URBAN FANTASY REVIEW: Her Majesty's Psychic Service 1: The Hanged Man - P N Elrod

Release Date: 19/05/15
Publisher:  Tor/Forge

SYNOPSIS:

On a freezing Christmas Eve in 1879, a forensic psychic reader is summoned from her Baker Street lodgings to the scene of a questionable death. Alexandrina Victoria Pendlebury (named after her godmother, the current Queen of England) is adamant that the death in question is a magically compromised murder and not a suicide, as the police had assumed, after the shocking revelation contained by the body in question, Alex must put her personal loss aside to uncover the deeper issues at stake, before more bodies turn up.

Turning to some choice allies--the handsome, prescient Lieutenant Brooks, the brilliant, enigmatic Lord Desmond, and her rapscallion cousin James--Alex will have to marshal all of her magical and mental acumen to save Queen and Country from a shadowy threat. Our singular heroine is caught up in this rousing gaslamp adventure of cloaked assassins, meddlesome family, and dark magic.


REVIEW:

A new Urban Fantasy series from an established author and one that really hits the spot as it grabs you from the opening pages presenting a Steampunk version of Sherlock Holmes that works delightfully well. The prose is pretty solid, the dialogue a real treat and when added to a whole host of characters that readers will want to spend time around all round generates something that was a pure joy to read.

Back this up with an arc that has a whole heap of twists and turns alongside an author that thoroughly knows how to throw not only a few spanners in the works but does so in such a way that the reader isn’t quite sure which way its going to turn all round gives you something that’s a real treat.



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