The Literate Kitty

Running around Manhattan in a dingy pair of track shoes is hardly an activity likely to raise many eyebrows. Neither is dashing about clad in designer-heel knockoffs or sporting a skimpy cocktail waitress get-up, for that matter. But, conducting a considerable amount of all that hustling back and forth at sky level, from one rooftop to another, or mucking about in the subterranean levels, below the deepest subway tunnels? That definitely qualifies as unusual. And, doing it loaded down with an assortment of guns, throwing knives, and other concealable weaponry, in pursuit of creatures straight out of “The Night Stalker”? Yeah, that’s just plain odd, even by New York standards. It’s all just another day’s work for intrepid Verity Price, though, in Discount Armageddon, the first book from Seanan McGuire’s brand-new (and delightfully off-kilter) urban fantasy series, known as the “InCryptid Novels”. [Curious about her other works? Check out some of my reviews,  here  and...

It sounded like the perfect getaway to San Francisco native, Detective Katrina Hunter... a couple weeks off work, taking her prized sailboat out for a leisurely trip down the coast to Ensenada, Mexico.  At least, it would’ve been perfect... were it not for the fact that her fiancé--make that, ex -fiancé--was supposed to have been by her side, celebrating their upcoming nuptials. Or that it was actually a forced vacation, given her mandatory leave of absence from the SFPD after shooting her sister’s scary stalker. Yep, aside from those teensy little issues, everything should’ve been peachy. Until, that is, her sun-dazzled, weary eyes go and spy what she swears is a mermaid, floating on a patch of seaweed. On closer inspection, the mermaid (rather disappointingly, if not surprisingly) turns out to be a dead young woman, whom Katy immediately reports to the nearest authorities. Unfortunately for her, though, that means the Mexican authorities... an overworked, underpaid--not to me...