Ben Aaronovitch‘s MOON OVER SOHO, the second Peter Grant novel, is out now in Taiwan! Published by 馬可孛羅文化事業 as 蘇活月爵士魅影, here’s the synopsis…

蘇活區，倫敦夜晚最熱鬧的地方，同時也是爵士樂發展的中心。在那裡，你可以找到歷史悠久且風格各異的酒吧和俱樂部，樂手們全都嚮往登上此處的表演舞臺，演奏最道地動聽的音樂。

一具被判定為自然死亡的屍體上，彼得·葛蘭特聽見了經典爵士樂曲的魔法殘跡，經調查後發現，過去一段時間大倫敦地區每年至少有三名爵士音樂家在演出後二十四小時內死亡，很可能是有某個術士或鬼魂、精靈之類的存在，正有計畫地殺害倫敦的爵士樂人──幾天後，再次傳來某個長號手暴斃的噩耗。

棘手的死亡事件不只一樁，就在魔法爵士殺手再度犯案的當晚，一名中年男子陰莖遭割裂、失血過多死在俱樂部裡，英國最後一位巫師警官納丁格爾告訴彼得，這是「陰牙」造成的傷口，很可能是某種超自然生物所為。

這下子彼得可頭大了，一個以爵士樂手為目標的魔法殺手，與一個擁有傷人利齒的超自然生物，該從哪個方向展開調查才好？首先，彼得必須找尋爵士樂專家的幫助，而他心底已經有了最佳人選…

馬可孛羅文化事業 also published RIVERS OF LONDON, as 倫敦河惡靈騷動.

MOON OVER SOHO is published in the UK by Gollancz, and in the US by Del Rey Books, and has been published widely in translation. Here’s the English-language synopsis…

I was my dad’s vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that’s how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it’s why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn’t the first.

No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn’t trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus’ ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens’ portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives.

And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard ‘Lord’ Grant — my father — who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That’s the thing about policing: most of the time you’re doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you’re doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you’re doing it for revenge.

‘Enormous storytelling gusto… exhilarating and emotionally affecting…’ — SF Reviews

‘The excitement and entertainment hasn’t stopped in the slightest…  this book once again blew my mind, and kept me reading well into the late night/early morning. You needn’t pick up RIVERS OF LONDON, Aaronovitch’s first in this series, but you’d regret it by the time you got to the end of MOON OVER SOHO and found out how good it was.’ — Fantasy Book Review

‘As funny as it is fantastic… [The plot] hops along happily to a toe-tapping time signature, with a sweet solo here and an awesome cacophony of noise there… vast amounts of fun…’ — Speculative Scotsman

‘MOON OVER SOHO is a gripping continuation of RIVER OF LONDON’s well executed blend of police-procedural and fantasy with a good splash of horror thrown in. This is urban fantasy done with a loving attention to detail and enlivened by an ever present wit making this series a must-read for anyone who likes their fantasy with a strong edge of realism.’ — SF Book Reviews

‘A fantastic follow-up to MIDNIGHT RIOT. Aaronovitch does a great job of bringing even minor characters to life. One of Grant’s fellow cops, Leslie, plays a minor role throughout the story – but her involvement is an emotional cornerstone that brings a surprisingly bittersweet element into play… MOON OVER SOHO is an excellent addition to the paranormal police genre.’ — Examiner

‘MOON OVER SOHO is very good. Ben Aaronovitch continues the successful formula of RIVERS OF LONDON in bringing to the surface the endearing minutae of a city that he clearly adores. He also demonstrates the “real world” problems of a ritual magician trying to have some sort of ‘normal’ life… Grant continues to observe his world(s) in a detached way – a narrative voice that lends itself well to dry humor (and fits less neatly with the book’s few over-the-top action scenes). Mr. Aaronovitch is, in short, writing the best contemporary occult detective series on the shelf today, and that’s by a substantial margin.’ — Pornokitsch