Shadows in the Darkness, Elaine Cunningham. I'm rather surprised I hadn't stumbled across this series before; with the explosion of the paranormal mystery field, I'd have expected better marketing for a series about a changeling private investigator. The series' heroine is former policewoman Gwen Gelman, an investigator who gets occasional psychic impressions of her quarries, and has the handy ability to dress and look about 20 years younger than her actual age.

Hired to track a missing child, Gelman's search takes her through Providence's seedier strip joints and drug hangouts, unearthing secrets about the pointy-eared traffickers in vice and her own heritage. Perhaps the most remarkable part of the book is that it remains a gritty crime novel, nearly to the end. There are hints of otherworldly elements, and dismissive remarks about Tolkien cliches, but the heroine's "superpowers" don't always bail her out or lead her straight to the perp - it's a refreshing change. Cunningham's strength is in her effective description and the light tone taken with occasionally grim subject matter. This series has serious potential - Gwen's history as ward of the state, her changeling heritage, and the power games of the denizens of the next world are all still to be discovered. There's enough sex to appeal to fans of the "paranormal romance," and mystery for those that miss hard-boiled noir. The second novel in the series, Shadows in the Starlight, was released in hardcover earlier this year.

Read June 2006