Lies Sleeping: Book 7 in the #1 bestselling Rivers of London series

In this latest installment of the English police urban fantasy mystery series our hero Peter Grant is hot on the trail of his former colleague Lesley May and her co-conspirator Faceless Man II aka MArtin Chorley. Dogged police work has led Peter and the rest of the police force in on the so-called Falcon-type incidents to follow up on all former members of the Oxford University Little Crocodiles society in the hope that one of the members might lead them to Martin Chorley. The book opens as Peter and Guleed are sitting outside the home of the latest Little Crocodile when all hell breaks out and one of the tall, thin high fae which Peter calls the Pale Ladies leaps out of the house after trying to kill the homeowner. With a trail that leads all around the City of London (not to be confused with London, which is a much larger area) centered on St Paul's Cathedral and West Smithfield Peter investigates a series of random clues involving King Arthur, Excalibur, the origins of Punch and more information on the mysterious Molly this book is just as clever, funny and convoluted as the previous books. Sadly there isn't nearly enough of Peter's mother but otherwise this is just as sublime (and confusing) as ever.

I was ready to be disappointed by this book, after all the previous 6 have been excellent and the author is bound to crash and burn sooner or later and drag things on for one or two books longer than he really should. Fortunately, for me, this seventh outing of Peter Grant and all things Folly lived up to the previous 6 books. It has everything I have come to expect from this series - sarcastic narration from PC Grant, whoops Detective Grant as he is now; a plethora of strange peoples popping up out of the demi-monde; a little whiff of Nightingale; genuine peril from the Faceless Man II and the mystery of Lesley May. Throw in a good dollop of the early history of London and it all cracks along at a cracking pace. Although I didn't race through this book as fast as I have the previous offerings that was down to other time commitments and I hated leaving this wonderfully realised fantasy world to deal with real life. Even better I love how the reach of the Folly is expanding with new people being brought in as adjuncts to their Metropolitan Police sanctioned activities. Either things are getting weirder in London (entirely plausible as Peter seems to rattle everyone's calm albeit accidentally) or the powers that be are just starting to realise how odd everything really is. The cast of core characters is expanding but this is at the loss of spending much time with Nightingale and I am beginning to miss him. Actually, the one big difference between this and the previous books is that it is much more action led and we don't get too much downtime with Peter. Yes, the sarcastic asides are still there and the voice is as strong as ever but some of the personal touch feels a little lost. Maybe it is time to get Peter back out of the city and exploring the wider British Isles (Foxglove Summer was easily the best of the series thus far). That said, the progression of the storyline started in Rivers Of London is good and feels organic rather than forced and, even better, there is still an openness to the ending that leaves us as bewildered as Peter as to where exactly things stand when the ancient dust settles. Still a cracking good read and I am looking forward to Book 8.

I've read most of the books in this series (working hard to make that 'all' ) and I'm still blown away by the apparent boundless knowledge that the author displays about the history and myths of the big city. When I Google some of the characters I get more hits from his books than I do from actual sources, so I often don't know how much of that is actual fact, but the whole thing is so wrapped up in its engaging and whimsical style, that I usually don't care. Enjoy this for what it is - and if you're in the same position as me, get out there and read this book - and the rest!