The Unnatural Enquirer by Simon R. Green

We return to the Nightside and the character of John Taylor, the P.I. with a special ability to "find" anything, which he inherited from his mother, Lilith. Yes, that Lilith. After doing a job for Walker, former agent of the Powers that ran Nightside and now seemingly unaffiliated but retaining his powers; Taylor and his love, Suzie Shooter, are sent to track down a voodoo priest named Max Maxwell, who has been mucking around with an artifact named the Aquarius Key, which can open portals to other dimensions. Max used it to try and stick the Voudoun loa in human bodies and use them as his tools.

Naturally, this peeved off the Loa and now they have come for Max. But he fled, and none of Suzie's people can find him. Thus, Walker turns to John Taylor, warning him that if Taylor can't locate the Key and Maxwell within the next three hours, Walker will have to unleash his dogs in Nightside, and that will be very unpleasant.

One short ramble to and from Max Maxwell's former lair and office bring John and Susie to the Nightside Fun Fair, an attempt at bringing some chills to the Nightside of a more harmless variety, but which failed when the Fair came to life and began attacking the revellers who came to it. Now, the magic there is so twisted that no one dares enter... with the exception of Maxwell, who apparently hopes that the twisted magic will hide him and the Key. John and Susie manage to track him down and send him to the dimension of the loa using the Key, thus taking care of him for good.

That done, they separate, because even though they love each other, Susie finds it hard to even touch people without hurting them, and that holds true even for Taylor, the man she loves. Taylor is soon summoned to the home of Nightside's Largest Scandal sheet purporting to be a Newspaper, the Supernatural Inquirer, which has been threatened with destruction, and actually destroyed, so many times that it now exists in its own dimension for safety.

The sub-editor of the Inquirer hires Taylor to track down a man named Pen Donavon, a man who supposedly caught a broadcast from the afterlife on his television and taped it, then burned it to DVD. He sold the rights to the DVD to the Inquirer, but then disappeared and is unable to be found. The Inquirer wants the DVD most desperately, as it could show proof of the afterlife, whether it is Heaven or Hell.

The Inquirer offers Taylor a Million pounds if he can find the disc, and assign him a sidekick for the duration of the job, the half Demon Bettie Divine, who regards John with an almost worshipful air for his past exploits. John doesn't want or need a sidekick or tag-along, but feels he has no choice in the matter. Someone is blocking his supernatural talent, so he'll have to rely on old-fasioned legwork for this one.

But John isn't the only one out after the DVD. There are plenty who would like to have it, and John and Bettie interview them all, only to realize that the most feared and dangerous figure in the Nightside, The Removal Man, is after it as well. And since no one has faced the Removal Man and lived, there is a reason to fear. No one knows who or what gave the Removal Man his powers, but anyone he doesn't like simply gets removed from both life and the Nightside, and they never come back.

Also, since the great Lilith War that so rocked Nightside, Walker, the man in charge, is being pushed at by some of the great movers and shakers in Nightside. Can Walker and whatever Patron is powering him now overcome the people who would run the Nightside in Walker's place? Or will their attempts to take power throw Nightside straight into another war? Will Pen Donovon's DVD set off a war amongst the Gods on the Street of Gods? And can Taylor and Bettie Divine find him before the powderkeg goes up?

This was a welcome sight in my Inbox at work. The book is short, but easy to read and moves at a good, clipping pace that prevents you from getting bogged down. The book might be rather thin for a novel, but is packed with so much story handled so well that it feels much larger than it actually is. Simon R. Green is a master storyteller who can pack more ideas into his story than seems readily feasible for the space the words occupy.

I'm always a sucker for a good John Taylor story, and this one is him at his best. The voice is sure and engaging, even to the way he describes the love of his life, Suzie Shooter: "Suzie Shooter, also known as 'Shotgun Suzie' and 'Oh Christ it's her Run!'". Every line brought a smile to my face as I revisited the characters I have come to know and love along with John Taylor. The wit sears and crackles on every page, and I love this series, as they say, like a fat boy loves his candy. I can't get enough.

For those who can't guess where I'm going with this one: read this series, and read it now. It's a can't miss for those who love smart writing with a whip-sharp sense of humor and a love for Film Noir detectives. You can't go wrong with the Nightside novels, and I can't recommend them highly enough. Go, and read!