Lightning Runes - (City of Shadows) by Harry Turtledove (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

All your favorite characters from Twice as Dead are back in this exhilarating follow-up to the first book in the City of Shadows series.

Jack Mitchell, the hardboiled ex-military private eye is asked to help muisician Oscar Ricks investigate Grampus Records (which he hopes to do while avoiding with the very unpleasant mob the rules this alternate 1940's Lost Angeles where the undead and dead co-exist).

Jack's complicated personal life also intertwines with the case, making the issue even more complicated. As he dives deeper into his investigation, he encounters danger at every turn, from physical altercations to supernatural threats.

To survive, let alone solve the case, Jack must rely on his wit, experience, the help of unlikely allies, and his street-smart instincts, to navigate the volatile world of mobsters, magic, and personal loyalty.

Review Quotes

For the first book in the series (Twice as Dead): "Wisecracking, biracial private eye Jack Mitchell takes on a series of cases complicated by the supernatural in this sharp-edged urban fantasy from Turtledove (The Wagers of Sin). In a post WWII Los Angeles, Mitchell, a combat vet haunted by wartime horrors, investigates a missing husband who may have been turned into a zombie and a vanished half-brother who just happens to be a vampire. He navigates the city's segregated streets from the Vampire Village ghetto, where Jewish refugees handle daytime tasks for the incapacitated residents, through the jazz parlors of Central, where Charlie "Bird" Parker mesmerizes audiences, to the downtown centers of power, where corrupt cops shrug off grand jury indictments. Though the mystery elements sometimes feel underbaked, Turtledove admirably adheres to the noir aesthetic with his street-level focus on the resilience and resistance of society's outcasts. Readers waiting for Walter Mosley's next hard-boiled novel will fill the time nicely with this sympathetic but unsentimental tale of the ghostly underclass."-Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Harry Turtledove is renowned for his alternate history and historical fiction, characterized by meticulous research and imaginative 'what if' scenarios. His engaging narrative style appeals to both history buffs and speculative fiction fans. Turtledove's awards include the Hugo Award for Best Novella, the HOMer Award for Short Story, and the John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction. He has won multiple Sidewise Awards for Alternate History and he was named an honorary Kentucky Colonel for his literary contributions. Publishers Weekly dubbed him the "Master of Alternate History."