Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch Narrator: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Series: Rivers of London #2
Published by Tantor Audio on September 28, 2012
Source: Library
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Mystery
Length: 10 hrs
Pages: 375
Format: Audiobook
Purchase at Bookshop.org or Audible
The song.
That’s what apprentice wizard and London Metropolitan Police Constable Peter Grant first notices when summoned to the local morgue to view the corpse of Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. He, along with Scottish pathologist Dr. Abdul Haqq Walid, hears the distinct notes of an old jazz standard emanating from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not as normal as it might first have seemed, since only something supernatural leaves such an imprint.
Body and Soul.
They’re also what Peter will risk, as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last practicing Newtonian wizard in England, and the questionable assistance of voluptuous but old-fashioned jazz groupie Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep, with an unexpected connection to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard "Lord" Grant—otherwise known as Peter’s dear old dad.
Moon Over Soho is funny and dark and full of magic. This time around we’ve got a jazz vampire on the loose in London. And a potentially very dangerous unethical wizard.
This is the second in the series. Peter Grant is a cop/ apprentice wizard in London. He’s called to the morgue where Dr. Walid wants him to note the definite vestigia about a dead man. Peter gets a clear sound of jazz sax, the kind of clue that only comes with strong magic. As Peter traces the steps of the jazz musician’s life, he ends up meeting his former girlfriend, Simone, as well as his band-mates.
I don’t acutally have a lot to say about this one although I thoroughly enjoyed it. Peter’s a great character, although he maybe lets his heart lead him a bit too much. I loved the jazz references and the bits of London history that were thrown in. There were a few rather creepy scenes. All the characters, good and “bad,” are well-done. I listened the audio and the narrator does a great job bringing Peter and his world to life. And the jazz bits between chapters were a nice touch.
About Ben Aaronovitch
Born and raised in London Ben Aaronovitch had the sort of unrelentingly uninteresting childhood that drives a person to drink or Science Fiction. The latter proved useful in his early career when he wrote for Doctor Who (before it was fashionable), Casualty and the cheapest soap opera ever made – Jupiter Moon.
Alas his career floundered in the late 1990s and he was forced to go out and work for living. It was while running the Crime and Science Fiction sections at the Covent Garden branch of Waterstones that he conceived the notion of writing novels instead. Thus was the Rivers of London series born and when the first book proved to be a runaway success he waited all of five minutes to give up the day job and return to the bliss that is a full time writing career.
He still lives in the city that he modestly calls ‘the capital of the world’ and says he will leave when they prise London from his cold dead fingers. He promises that he is already hard at work on the next Peter Grant novel and not computer games – honest