
This beer festival’s going off with a bang …
A call from an old colleague has DI Adams off her patch and out of her depth, investigating a mysterious new beer with unexpected side effects. Side effects far more dangerous than a simple hangover.
Deadly brewers. Super-powered DJs. Raging florists.
And it’s not just them. Half the police in Yorkshire have fallen for the beer’s spell, and Adams is barely keeping a step ahead. If she doesn’t figure this out before festival opening night the whole county will be under the influence of Niddered Ale, and there’ll be no sobering up from it.
Not ever.
But she’s got her invisible dog, her trusty duck, and her really big stick. Plus she’s just dying to arrest someone.
If she can get past those superpowers and stay out of jail, of course …
All Out of Leeds / Trouble Brewing in Harrogate, Kim M. Watt
I know, what on earth - bridge dwelling monsters, magical toasties, a caffeine-addicted dog, ducks, deadly brewers, superpowered DJs, raging florists, ALL OUT OF LEEDS (book 1) and TROUBLE BREWING IN HARROGATE (book 2), and this reader. Not a match made in heaven. But it's not always about personal taste, and somewhere there will be readers going ... oooo, who is writing this sort of right up my country lane style paranormal cosy fiction?
Kim M. Watt has a number of series along these lines, these being the first 2 books in the DI Adams set, which as at the date of this review has 3.5 entries in it. They are sort of police procedurals, with a hefty dose of overt humour and ... well magic. (Did I mention that the dog, in this case a black dog called Dandy is also invisible. It's not completely weird, Adams can see him).
Anyway, cosy fantasy, with a police procedural overlay, following on from 0.5 in the series, WHAT HAPPENED IN LONDON, to be honest I've no idea if you need to read that book first. If this is the sort of series that would appeal to you, then maybe yes. Not that I'm sure knowing who is who or why or how is going to be a dealbreaker for magical, cosy, fantasy with a police procedural overlay ...
If this sounds close to appealing, but not quite, then you never know - the Beaufort Scales Mysteries might work better. The first from that series has a blurb that includes the line:
Beaufort Scales, High Lord of the Cloverly dragons and survivor of the days of knights and dragon hunts, knows even better than Alice that the modern dragon only survives as long as no one knows they exist. But he also knows friends don’t let friends face murder inquiries alone. Beaufort fully intends to Get Involved.
More on one of those next up.