Ritter, William

Spring 1892 in New England's bustling (fictional) town of New Fiddleham finds British transplant Abigail Rook still acting as assistant to paranormal detective R. F. Jackaby (Jackaby, rev. 11/14). It's a job that requires "a somewhat flexible relationship with reality." Case in point: a client's cat has turned into a mackerel, and she's now mama to a litter of kitten-fish hybrids. The investigation soon takes a darker turn when the pet owner is found murdered, her body bearing a single puncture wound. Could the killer be a vampire? Much too obvious a hypothesis, thinks Jackaby; he's "not ruling out the Russian strigoi or Chinese jiang-shi. This is a country of immigrants, after all." Jackaby's sense of humor, ever droll and capricious, shines once again in this sequel. The storytelling is just as solid and absorbing, too, even with quite the crowd—shape-shifters, rival paleontologists, an avid hunter, a livestock-pillaging predator, an intrepid journalist—and there's a bit of romance as well. It all keeps Jackaby and Abigail busy. Very busy. And deliberately so, it seems