Constable and apprentice magician Peter Grant returns in Broken Homes, the fourth volume of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. A twisted murder starts things off with a mutilated body, the clues pointing to a serial killer... or an incredibly powerful wizard known as the Faceless Man. It's up to Grant to find out which while he navigates the murky waters of his relationship with fellow apprentice Lesley Mai, who wears a mask most of the time to cover her ruined face. In addition to the body, Grant picks up a case involving a town planner's suicide and a third involving a stolen magical book. Also, weird tales are coming out of a massive residential high-rise tower built decades before, currently home to the more desperate of Londoners--and a focal point for various magical energies and entities, from a wood nymph named Sky to King Oberon himself.
Broken Homes is a darkly comedic urban fantasy with plenty of London on display (though the tower that the story revolves around is utterly fictitious). Peter Grant is a thoroughly modern man, and his youthful perspective plays well against the classic British style of the aged yet powerful Nightingale, Grant's mentor--and the last surviving member of England's governmental magical forces. Some strikingly poignant scenes enrich the humor, and there is plenty of commentary on police work and modern England. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor