I’m always wishing for more Nightingale when I read the Peter Grant novels, and I finally got my wish! This one’s all about Nightingale’s past—what fun! It was a good yarn, and I loved that he had a pet Bloodhound to help him find the baddie!
The historical notes at the end of the book were fascinating, especially the piece about Bloodhounds being considered in the search for Jack the Ripper. I really liked learning about the magician Jasper Maskelyne’s exploits during World War II, but I was disappointed that the accounts aren’t well-documented. ( )

This looks into the Windscale/Selafield incident from a different viewpoint along with Thomas Nightingale burying a friend and Peter exploring the archive of the case.

This fits in well with the series and made me think about the characters and what it must be like to live their lives. Interesting how they keep trying to do the right thing but sometimes politics bogs them down. The asides by Peter about modern and former policing makes it fun as always. ( )

Another good installment! I really liked seeing Nightingale solving a crime in the 1950s and getting some more of his backstory at the same time. It’s a good mystery, going into bits of British history that don’t get talked about much and putting a magical spin on them—though of course, this being Aaronovitch, there’s a certain amount of darkness and gut punching going on at the same time. He even manages to flesh out Molly’s character a little bit more.

I don’t know if I can say a whole lot more without spoiling the book, but it’s certainly nice to see Nightingale hunting a murder on his own (or at least without Peter) and I really hope that we get to see more fragments of the past as the Rivers of London universe develops.

To bear in mind: Contains Nazis and serial killers.

8/10 ( )