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US Publication Day – BROKEN HOMES by Ben Aaronovitch

Posted on Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

The wait is finally over! Peter Grant fans States-side can now pick up the fourth novel in Ben Aaronovitch‘s hugely successful and beloved Rivers of London/Peter Grant series! BROKEN HOMES is published in the US today by DAW Books. The novel was released in the UK by Gollancz in July 2013.

Just in case you missed it, here is the synopsis for the novel…

A unique blend of police procedural, loving detail about the greatest character of all, London, and a dash of the supernatural.

A mutilated body in Crawley. Another killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one Robert Weil; an associate of the twisted magician known as the Faceless Man? Or just a common or garden serial killer?

Before PC Peter Grant can get his head round the case a town planner going under a tube train and a stolen grimoire are adding to his case-load.

So far so London.

But then Peter gets word of something very odd happening in Elephant and Castle, on an housing estate designed by a nutter, built by charlatans and inhabited by the truly desperate.

Is there a connection?

And if there is, why oh why did it have to be South of the River?

Full of warmth, sly humour and a rich cornucopia of things you never knew about London, Aaronovitch’s series has swiftly added Grant’s magical London to Rebus’ Edinburgh and Morse’s Oxford as a destination of choice for those who love their crime with something a little extra.

Here’s some of what others have said in praise of BROKEN HOMES…

‘PC Peter Grant and his co-worker Lesley, two of the few policemen in London who can practice magic, are still working under Nightingale, who must be the oldest police officer in England . . . not that he looks it. A low-income housing tower gone awry, an old enemy with a bone to pick . . . and a shocker of an ending – BROKEN HOMES is a delight.’ — Charlaine Harris

‘Aaronovitch has involved his squad with the theatres of Covent Garden, the clubs of Soho and the Underground; now, he takes us south of the River. Here, it’s all about architecture. Those who are sceptical about the massive Modernist housing estates of the Fifties and Sixties as liveable environments will be made to think again – what if some of those architects had entirely other agendas? As always, Aaronovitch is intellectually witty and often delightful in his sparky dialogue. He knows that his characters have to be put in serious jeopardy: this book includes a particularly devastating twist whose emotional logic is overwhelming. Aaronovitch is never less than entertaining, and here he proves he can break our hearts as well.’ — The Independent (Roz Kaveney)

‘BROKEN HOMES,continues in the same rich vein of his brilliant supernatural crime series. Writing about his native London, Aaronovitch has crafted a novel that renders the city in a very different light.’ — BSFA

‘… opens with Aaronovitch’s trademark rapidity and subversive joy with the acronyms and minutiae of modern policing… an enormously fun, fast-paced, witty novel…’ — Tor.com

BROKEN HOMES is also due to be published by J’ai Lu in France and DTV in Germany. Here are the three covers, side-by-side…

Ben Aaronovitch’s WHISPERS UNDER GROUND Wins Award in Germany!

Posted on Tuesday, January 21st, 2014

We’re delighted to report that the German edition of Ben Aaronovitch‘s WHISPERS UNDER GROUND – EIN WISPERN UNTER BAKER STREET – has won second place in the fantasy category of Der Leserpreis, which is a prize voted for by readers (a German Readers’ Choice, if you will). Here’s the German synopsis…

Es ist ja nicht so, dass Peter Grant, Zauberer in Ausbildung und Police Constable in London, nichts für das Üben von Zaubersprüchen und das Pauken von Lateinvokabeln übrig hätte – bestimmt nicht! Aber es ist doch immer wieder schön, wenn zur Abwechslung auch mal reelle Polizeiarbeit gefragt ist. Eine unbekannte Person wird im U-Bahn-Tunnel nahe der Station Baker Street tot aufgefunden – erstochen, und es deuten unübersehbare Anzeichen auf die Anwesenheit von Magie hin. Ein Fall für Peter, keine Frage. Der unbekannte Tote stellt sich als amerikanischer Kunststudent und Sohn eines US-Senators heraus, und ehe man noch “internationale Verwicklungen” sagen kann, hat Peter bereits die FBI-Agentin Kimberley Reynolds mitsamt ihren felsenfesten religiösen Überzeugungen am Hals. Dabei gestalten sich seine Ermittlungen auch so schon gruselig genug, denn tief in Londons Untergrund, in vergessenen Flüssen und viktorianischen Abwasserkanälen, hört er ein Wispern von alten Künsten und gequälten Geistern …

EIN WISPERN UNTER BAKER STREET is published in Germany by DTV. WHISPERS UNDER GROUND, the third in Ben’s Rivers of London/Peter Grant series, is published by Gollancz in the UK, Del Rey in the US, and J’ai Lu in France (as MURMURES SOUTERRAINS).

Here is the English synopsis (in case you don’t speak German)…

Peter Grant is learning magic fast. And its just as well – he’s already had run ins with the deadly supernatural children of the Thames and a terrifying killer in Soho. Progression in the Police Force is less easy. Especially when you work in a department of two. A department that doesn’t even officially exist. A department that if you did describe it to most people would get you laughed at. And then there’s his love life. The last person he fell for ended up seriously dead. It wasn’t his fault, but still.

Now something horrible is happening in the labyrinth of tunnels that make up the tube system that honeycombs the ancient foundations of London. And delays on the Northern line is the very least of it. Time to call in the Met’s Economic and Specialist Crime Unit 9, aka ‘The Folly’. Time to call in PC Peter Grant, Britains Last Wizard.

Two International Cover Reveals for Ben Aaronovitch’s BROKEN HOMES!

Posted on Monday, December 16th, 2013

We’re delighted to be able to share with you two great new covers for Ben Aaronovitch‘s BROKEN HOMES. The fourth in Ben’s Peter Grant/Rivers of London urban fantasy series, BROKEN HOMES now has covers for the French and German editions!