Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes

Book 1 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch.

My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth.

My story really begins when I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead…

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. After taking a statement from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost, Peter comes to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny.
Suddenly, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Praise for the Rivers of London novels:

‘Ben Aaronovitch has created a wonderful world full of mystery, magic and fantastic characters. I love being there more than the real London’
NICK FROST

About the author

Ben Aaronovitch

Ben Aaronovitch was born in 1964. Discovering in his early twenties that he had precisely one talent, he took up screenwriting at which he was an overnight success. He wrote for Doctor Who, Casualty and the world’s cheapest ever SF soap opera Jupiter Moon. He then wrote for Virgin’s New Adventures until they pulped all his books.

Then Ben entered a dark time illuminated only by an episode of Dark Knight, a book for Big Finish and the highly acclaimed but not-very-well-paying Blake’s 7 Audio dramas.

Our review

I quite enjoyed following this unusual detective around the streets of London, although I wasn’t expecting what I encountered. Everything I read was so different from anything I had read before.

What begins as a possible detective story widens into a glorious magical mystery, and I loved how this story was written; it was sarcastic yet witty.

This is the first book of many, and I intend to read them all. It was a delight to see London in a different light.

I had no idea this was a supernatural, fantasy, mystery thriller, so it all came as a lovely surprise. The magic is most natural, and humanising my favourite river was a delight…