A few interesting books from my recent reading pile. First up Chris Brookmyre's The Cracked Mirror. It starts off as half Miss Marple, half Dirty Harry - a tricky balance to pull off, but Brookmyre does it admirably. The two elements entwine, and then head off in another direction still. I thought the third act dragged just a touch once we got an idea of how the two characters might have ended up together, but the twists and revelations kept piling up once it kicked back into gear. Excellent stuff.
Then there's Chris and Jen Sugden's High Vaultage that Melmoth pointed me towards. The blurb suggests it for fans of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series and Terry Pratchett's Discworld, a very high bar as those are two of my favourite series, so it's not a huge surprise it doesn't quite scale those heights. It's a lot of fun, though, with an impressive alternate Victorian setting.
My pick of recent reads is another alternate history (or alternate present) that I'd say has stronger shades of the Rivers of London series - Pagans by James Alistair Henry. The Britain of Pagans is a backwater divided into Saxon, Celtic and Norse kingdoms, and centres around a pair of cops, one Saxon, one Celt, investigating a murder. The investigation (with strong dollops of Nordic Noir) and the world are equally strong, complementing each other beautifully. Highly recommended!
