The Hanging Tree: Book 6 in the #1 bestselling Rivers of London series

The sixth book in the series, sees Peter Grant back in his beloved London, working out of The Folly and being subject to Nightingale's nagging about his apprenticeship and the pull of his more legitimate Police masters. Strangely, Toby doesn't get much of a sniff in this book - maybe Peter no longer needs his assistance in picking up on Vestigia, but I found myself missing the ratty little terrier. Leslie is still out there somewhere, as is The Faceless Man, the Metropolitan Police still view Peter and Nightingale as weird and likely to be dangerous and Lady Ty is about to call in her dues. All in all, pretty much a standard set up for PC Grant. Lets face it, if you've read this far in to the series then you know what to expect. Peter bumbles about a bit, Nightingale acts a little fusty and then pulls some superior magic out of his bag of metaphysical tricks, Leslie and the Faceless Man both taunt Peter and The Folly, Molly acts plain "odd" and serves peculiar meals. The Rivers are still exerting their inexorable wiles over the city, as any good Goddess should, basically shady business as normal. Not as good as the fifth book, but maybe this is because we are back in a city setting and there was something so liberating about having Peter way out of his comfort zone. Of course, by being back in the city this means that the opportunity for Peter to create mayhem amps up and he does not disappoint. From destroying a department store to washing away a multimillion pound town house you can feel Mr Grant's fingerprints all over it - how his bosses haven't locked him up and thrown away the key is anyones guess. The telling is, as always, by narration from Peter's perspective; I will admit to a sneaky longing to hear from Nightingale directly. Mr Aaronovitch's writing is compelling, witty and sucks you in. Even though this is an Urban Fantasy it is wildly off the wall and yet balanced by sound police procedures so it works - even though it shouldn't really work it somehow does. I'm not sure why I enjoy these books so much but I really do, they are a genuine treat that enliven an otherwise dull and miserable day.

There's really nothing more to add about this book - calling it an integral part of the on-going series would be an understatement of obscene proportions - except to merely confirm it is wonderfully written, tense as can be and filled to the brim with mystery, excitement and the wonderful prose that Aaronovitch has by now refined to a pure essence of enjoyment! I did enjoy that 'The Hanging Tree' seems to pull back a bit from the overly detailed honorisms about the architecture and history of London that haunted the first 4 books, noting again that Book 5 was a welcome break away from the big city. If there's any negative at all to point out it is simply that the uninitiated to these books can in no way just pick this copy up and read it without being totally and hopelessly lost. So if you haven't started it yet, pick up Book 1 (and 2 and so on) and start reading. You have I believe until mid-November 2018 to catch up as that's when the next chapter is due to hit shelves! Until then, I myself will have to staunch my impatience through other endeavours, sadly I'm afraid, without even a clever 'Lux' to light my way.

Peter Grant moves back to London for the latest installment of the cracktastic supernatural detective series. Peter is awoken by Tyburn calling in a favour: there has been an accidental drugs overdose in London's most expensive residential block of apartments and her daughter is involved. Tyburn is calling in the favour Peter owes her. Peter's latest investigation teams him with the fabulous Guleed as they try to uncover who bought the drugs that killed the girl. As always all roads lead to the faceless man, but has he made a mistake this time? I gobbled this book down. It featured all of my favourite characters AND it was set back in London. I loved, as always, the police humour "Do you know who I am?" still makes me snort with laughter. Just bought two more books for the flight home tonight!