The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

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.