Hard Spell: An Occult Crimes Unit Investigation

Hard Spell An Occult Crimes Unit Investigation (2011) Justin Gustainis

Stan Markowski is a Detective on the Scranton Police Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit–they investigate crimes involving witches and vampires and other supernatural beings.

Cops on the Supe Squad spend as much time investigating crimes committed against supes as we do on crimes with a supe perpetrator, and the supe community knows that. If a cop is fair in his dealing with them, the supers remember.

First, Scranton isn’t that close the West (by God) Virginia, but it apparently is similar enough to strike a cord with me: the mix of names (Polish, Italian, Irish) and the Catholicism would be familiar to anyone from north central WV. The whole thing felt like it could be taking place just down the road, although Scranton IS much larger than anything just down the road from me.

Second, it was a lot of fun. I love mysteries, I love police procedurals, and this is the kind of supernatural fantasy I initially fell in love with. No boinking, no glittering, just creatures who are very different from us, while inhabiting the world we (mostly) know.

Prostitution is the only job that requires a woman to go someplace private with a complete stranger. That makes working girls easy prey for guys who have more on their minds than a quick blowjob. Psychos have known that ever since Jack the Ripper, if not before.

So yeah, I don’t think the existence of supernatural creatures would make the world that different from the way it is now.

Well, most things anyway.

Yeah, I really said, “heck”. I’m no Boy Scout, but it’s not smart to say words like “hell” in a supe bar. You never know what might be listening.

That’s a touch I quite liked.

So, supernatural creatures and a cop mystery. All were pretty good, and I think he did a good job of putting them together.

But really, NO BOINKING. That was the icing on the cake.

This was a fun read, and I recommend it.
Rating: 8/10 (Yes, I did give this book extra points for no boinking.)

Published by Angry Robot

 
 

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