Seeking supernatural P.I.

[The Second]

I'd like a few recommendations for paranormal mysteries/thrillers with a supernatural Protagonist. Currently I'm reading Mercedes Lackey's Diana Tregarde series, which is pretty much ok, and I've read a fair number of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels, which started good and then got weird.

What I'm looking for is a series with a modern setting. Other than that, I'm game to read anything you guys recommend. Just one thing; I hate starting a series in the middle, so if you'd also point out the title of the first book in the series, I'd be much obliged.

[BWR]

Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels sound like your thing. Carey wrote some of the better Hellblazer stuff and the excellent Lucifer series. FC is basically Carey's own version of Constantine, I'm lead to believe (this is one of those things I've been meaning to read for ages now).
First book is "The Devil you know"

You could always read the Hellblazer comics. Less mystery/thriller, more horror and general weird stuff. The quality varies but on the whole it is quite good and one of my favorite comic series. Starts with "Original sins", if you don't want to wade through Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing to see his introduction (though I recommend that as well).

[rooster707]

Dresden Files. The first book is Storm Front, but it really gets good around... book 3, I think? You should read the whole series, though. It's excellent.

[Dragonus45]

So I am a huge fan of the genre and off the top of my head I would recommend Dresden Files first and foremost. I consider it the pinnacle of the genre once it hits its' stride and it has a wealth of books and short stories to eat up you're entire week. I would assume you had already checked it out, but better not to since you didn't mention reading it. First book is Storm Front (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47212.Storm_Front?from_search=true) (Not that one)

Well there is the Alex Verus series by one of our very own play grounders, a series about a supernatural detective who's main power set is skilled divination. It leads to some interesting fights and mysteries, and I think its one of the most balanced powersets that I can think of off the top of my head. The first novel is Fated (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11737387-fated)

For a certain value of detective the Kitty Norvile series could be up you're ally. Its about a werewolf, named Kitty, who is the host of a late night radio call in talk show where she talks about being a werewolf and other supernatual types call in about advice. And mysteries happen. Its a solid series with a dash of romance and intrigue. First novel is Kitty and the Midnight Hour (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14461.Kitty_and_the_Midnight_Hour)

The October Daye series is a new one to me, I'm only on the second book now but if you like the flavor of a series dominated by fae courts and that flavor of mythology you will probably like it. First book is Rosemary and Rue. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6294549-rosemary-and-rue?from_search=true)

Pact is also stretching the definition of detective and is more of a modern fantasy but it's a great series and also 100% free to read online as it is a web serial by Wildbow, the creator of Worm. It is a modern fantasy series about Blake Thorburn, who inherits a house and fortune from his spectacularly evil grandmother after she kicks it setting of a chain of events that will test your patience with aweful things happening to a protagonist. But plenty of mysteries and excellent characters plus what I feel is a rather happy ending for the story as a whole make it worth pushing through. First chapter is Here (https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/bonds-1-1/)

This is mostly just novels off the top of me head. comics there are a ton more and comics as well. The Trenchcoat Brigade (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrenchcoatBrigade) is a trope that is literallby about grizzled occult detectives, might be worth a look over as well.

[lord_khaine]

I would like to recomend Rivers of London (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_London_(novel)). It is kinda obscure, but can more or less be described as The Dresden Files if the main character had been a sensible junior police officer stumbling into magic instead of a gungho engine of magical destruction that playes by his own rules.

So all in all the story manages to be both really witty, and also subvert a lot of tropers regarding detective style stories. Mainly since the main character does a lot of weird things. Like report his findings to his superiors and ask for instructions. Or call for backup at the first sign of trouble instead of running head first into a nest of vampires :smalltongue:

[tonberrian]

I read a Garret, P.I. Omnibus (Glen Cook), and I liked it. I've been meaning to read more of those.

[pendell]

You might also check out the Wyrdwolf (https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B06XS1W4MZ/ref=dp_st_1519108664) series by Alexa Duir. I think it quite passable, it is in genre, and I know the author IRL and in person.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[rs2excelsior]

Two others have mentioned it, but I want to throw in another vote for the Dresden Files. Far and away the best of the urban fantasy/supernatural PI genre that I've read. The Greywalker series is pretty good too, I enjoyed them the first time I read them but they didn't catch me as much when I went to reread them more recently. So YMMV.

[Fri]

if you want to read a one-off novel, Kraken, from Un Lun Dun's author China Mieville.

If you're interested in something slightly different, Charles Stross' Laundry Files series. It's about a governmental agency that secretly try to hold back cosmic horrors from enroaching to our world, but held back by bueraucracy, budget cuts, intra-department rivalry, and all the mundane stuffs. In that series magic is advanced math/science that can be understood with a programmer mindset, or something in that line. The first book is titled Atrocity Archive. I remember the first book is kinda weird, but it gets better.

If you want to read something not set in our world, try the Craftverse by Max Gladstone. The first book is titled Three Parts Dead. It's about a setting right after a war between immortal craftsmen called the deathless kings and the various gods of the lands, and the aftereffect where magicians (or craftsmen, as it called in the setting) are more alike to lawyers rather than scientists or artisans. Magicians and gods create firms, have equities, invest their magic reserve in offshore account, and do corporate spying on each others.

[Vogie]

A third vote for the Dresden files

I just finished Magic Bites, by Ilona Andrews, which is a supernatural PI set in post-magical-apocalypse Atlanta GA. It was really good - That's the only one of the series I've read, but a friend of mine loves the series.

[Clertar]

I recommend Charles de Lint in general for urban fantasy. For detective-style stories, his novel Moonheart is really a good one.

[GloatingSwine]

I would like to recomend Rivers of London (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_London_(novel)). It is kinda obscure, but can more or less be described as The Dresden Files if the main character had been a sensible junior police officer stumbling into magic instead of a gungho engine of magical destruction that playes by his own rules.

So all in all the story manages to be both really witty, and also subvert a lot of tropers regarding detective style stories. Mainly since the main character does a lot of weird things. Like report his findings to his superiors and ask for instructions. Or call for backup at the first sign of trouble instead of running head first into a nest of vampires :smalltongue:

If you'd like the slightly harder edged version of this, then Paul Cornell's Shadow Police series is also worth a look. If the Peter Grant books are The Bill, Shadow Police is The Sweeney.

[Darth Credence]

Agreeing on Dresden and Garrett P.I. (the first book in that is Sweet Silver Blues). I haven't seen anyone else recommend the Daniel Faust books, so I'll mention them. He's as much a criminal and a conman as an investigator, but he does investigate. In addition, the antagonist from the first book gets a spinoff series of her own.
The first book is The Long Way Down. Six books out so far, plus a short story written later but set between 1 and 2.
The antagonist from book one is Harmony Black, an FBI agent and witch. Her series starts off with the book Harmony Black. She becomes part of a unit that hunts down supernatural threats, and the first one is chasing the Boogeyman. Three books in so far.

[The Glyphstone]

The Nathaniel Cade series might be worth looking into as well. Political mystery/thrillers about a vampire secret agent and his human handler/sidekick fighting supernatural conspiracies and evil monsters.

[JoshL]

I recommend Charles de Lint in general for urban fantasy. For detective-style stories, his novel Moonheart is really a good one.

I will agree with this so very much. He is one of my favorite authors in general. Most of his stuff isn't really PI stuff though.

I wish I liked Dresden more. I read the first 3, I've been told they get better but I had a hard time finishing the third. A friend of mine is really into F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack, which might be sort of tangential to the topic. And John Dies At The End might fit too

[digiman619]

I will agree with this so very much. He is one of my favorite authors in general. Most of his stuff isn't really PI stuff though.

I wish I liked Dresden more. I read the first 3, I've been told they get better but I had a hard time finishing the third. A friend of mine is really into F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack, which might be sort of tangential to the topic. And John Dies At The End might fit too

I had a similar thing happen, but I soldiered through and I am really greatful I did.

[Dragonus45]

I've never really gotten the hate for the first two dresden books. Yea they aren't really groundbreaking or filled with HSF like some of his later work is but they are perfectly serviceable genre fare that do a good job laying the groundwork for the later series.

[Darth Credence]

I will agree with this so very much. He is one of my favorite authors in general. Most of his stuff isn't really PI stuff though.

I wish I liked Dresden more. I read the first 3, I've been told they get better but I had a hard time finishing the third. A friend of mine is really into F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack, which might be sort of tangential to the topic. And John Dies At The End might fit too

I wouldn't have connected Jack to this, as I think fixer rather than P.I., but oh yeah!

Jack fixes problems that can't be fixed by the authorities. All but one of his books involves the supernatural, but it takes a bit for him to accept it. He isn't supernatural at all, just deals with it. They are incredible books. Stephen King was so enamored he was the president of the Repairman Jack fan club.

If you decide to go with them (and again, incredible), the reading order is a bit muddled. There are 4 series that need to be discussed. The Adversary series, Repairman Jack, Jack: Secret Histories, and Jack: Early Years. The Adversary Cycle is six books long, and the second book in the series is the first in the RJ series. The first three are not really linked - it became a series when he started the last 3. The last book in the Adversary Cycle is also the last book in RJ.
However, you do not need to read Adversary to understand anything in Jack. It adds some extra info, and I would recommend it, but you don't have to.
Chronologically, Secret Histories would be first for Jack (but after the first in Adversary). It is Jack as a teen. Early Years is after that, when he is starting out as Repairman Jack. Both were written well after the main series, and should be read after everything else. I'd read in chronological order now, because I've read them, but not otherwise.
I know I've made this seem not worth it, but it really is. If you like horror, I'd start with The Keep from Adversary. After that, or first if you skip it, would be The Tomb, the first in Repairman Jack (and to further confuse things, there is no tomb in the book, and it is sometimes titled Rakoshi!). From there, I'd go straight through the Jack books until The Dark at the End, then the rest of Adversary.

[Bohandas]

There's the Ankh-Morpork city watch books by Terry Pratchett, although technically that's about police detectives, not P.I.s, and the protagonists themselves don't use magic due to the captain of the guard mistrusting it partly as a result of mishaps at the wizards guild constantly causing significant damage to the city and creating mayhem, some of the villains use magic however. Also one of the deputies is technically a wizard but he doesn't cast spells because he can no longer speak the incantations because he has the body of an orangutan due to one of the aforememtioned magical accidents.

The series is a subseries of the Discworld novels. The first city watch book is titled Guards! Guards!, but that's the eighth book overall in the Discworld series (the first book overall is The Color of Magic)

EDIT;
Nevermind. I just saw that you wanted a modern setting. Discworld doesn't fit then because it's a mis of generic high fantasy and steampunk

[Clertar]

IRT JoshL

I too gave the Dresden novels a try, and to me they read like very bad fanfiction.

[GloatingSwine]

It's telling that Jim Butcher's explanation for the difference in tone, quality, and attitudes between the early and later Dresden Files books is "I grew up".

[The Second]

@Bohandas: I love Terry like an uncle so thanks for the suggestion; it has been a while since I read any Discworld.


Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels sound like your thing. Carey wrote some of the better Hellblazer stuff and the excellent Lucifer series. FC is basically Carey's own version of Constantine, I'm lead to believe (this is one of those things I've been meaning to read for ages now).
First book is "The Devil you know"

You could always read the Hellblazer comics. Less mystery/thriller, more horror and general weird stuff. The quality varies but on the whole it is quite good and one of my favorite comic series. Starts with "Original sins", if you don't want to wade through Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing to see his introduction (though I recommend that as well).

@BWR: Ah yes, Mr. Constantine. It is a quality series. I have yet to look at Lucifer, though... I tend to not enjoy offshoots of Mr. Gaiman's works, but If I get a chance I'll check it out.


Dresden Files. The first book is Storm Front, but it really gets good around... book 3, I think? You should read the whole series, though. It's excellent.

I knew someone would call out Dresden. The only real reason I've avoided Dresden is the popularity factor... it's sad, I know. Maybe I'll give him a chance.




Well there is the Alex Verus series by one of our very own play grounders, a series about a supernatural detective who's main power set is skilled divination. It leads to some interesting fights and mysteries, and I think its one of the most balanced powersets that I can think of off the top of my head. The first novel is Fated (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11737387-fated)


I'll check it out, thanks.



For a certain value of detective the Kitty Norvile series could be up you're ally. Its about a werewolf, named Kitty, who is the host of a late night radio call in talk show where she talks about being a werewolf and other supernatual types call in about advice. And mysteries happen. Its a solid series with a dash of romance and intrigue. First novel is Kitty and the Midnight Hour (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14461.Kitty_and_the_Midnight_Hour)



Now that sounds fresh, and interesting. I’ll be reading that tonight, I think.



The October Daye series is a new one to me, I'm only on the second book now but if you like the flavor of a series dominated by fae courts and that flavor of mythology you will probably like it. First book is Rosemary and Rue. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6294549-rosemary-and-rue?from_search=true)

Pact is also stretching the definition of detective and is more of a modern fantasy but it's a great series and also 100% free to read online as it is a web serial by Wildbow, the creator of Worm. It is a modern fantasy series about Blake Thorburn, who inherits a house and fortune from his spectacularly evil grandmother after she kicks it setting of a chain of events that will test your patience with aweful things happening to a protagonist. But plenty of mysteries and excellent characters plus what I feel is a rather happy ending for the story as a whole make it worth pushing through. First chapter is Here (https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2013/12/17/bonds-1-1/)

This is mostly just novels off the top of me head. comics there are a ton more and comics as well. The Trenchcoat Brigade (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TrenchcoatBrigade) is a trope that is literallby about grizzled occult detectives, might be worth a look over as well.

If I can find Trenchcoat Brigade in trade format I’ll give it a try.

[Dragonus45]

If I can find Trenchcoat Brigade in trade format I’ll give it a try.

Oh its not its own story, its just a common enough trope that every supernatural investigator wanders around with a trench coat and so on that its a trope. And just about everyone on the page is an occult investigator series.

[Bohandas]

I just remembered. How about Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency? Though that one's got strong elements of sci-fi in it as well (if I recall correctly the core of the story was cobbled together from elements of rejected Doctor Who scripts from way back in the day when Douglas Adams was writing for Doctor Who), I don't know if that's ok or not. Anyway the premise of the story is that the protagonist uses new age woo about the interconnectedness of all things to solve mysteries (and also as a smokescreen to disguise and excuse various highly dubious expenses he charges to his clients. Since all things are interconnected that means, for example, that his two week tropical vacation is connected to the case and therefore billable as an expense). However, despite his abuse of the philosophy behind it, the new age woo does work for him, so I think the novel still counts.

[BWR]

Oh its not its own story,.

Then explain how I have this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trenchcoat_Brigade)in my collection

[Manga Shoggoth]

I'd put another vote in for Rivers or London, amd also note that there are at least two rather good graphic novels based on the series as well (Although I'd recommend reading at least the first book first).

[BiblioRook]

The October Daye series is a new one to me, I'm only on the second book now but if you like the flavor of a series dominated by fae courts and that flavor of mythology you will probably like it. First book is Rosemary and Rue. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6294549-rosemary-and-rue?from_search=true)

By the same author is the InCryptid series (First book Discount Armageddon), and as a fan of the genre this one would probably have to be my current favorite. Basically it's about a family of, well, cryptid Sociologists/Biologists that generations ago broke away from a major monster-hunting society when they realized that most of what they were hunting not only were sentient but had the same cares and worries as normal everyday people and just wanted to life their lives in peace, so they switched to trying to devote their lives and the lives of future genurations to learning about and protecting what they used to hunt (even at the cost of of being put on a kill list from the society they used to be part of for their 'betrayal'). The series focuses on different family members, so far it mainly has focused on the eldest daughter who specializes in urban cryptids (and dancing, which is her real passion because it's not as if she asked to be born into a family of crypid experts) but the series has since shifted to her brother as well (who specializes in more animal like crypids) and the series is due to shift again soon to their younger sister. From what I hear if you have any experience in the October Daye series the overall tone is much lighter and jokey.


I read a Garret, P.I. Omnibus (Glen Cook), and I liked it. I've been meaning to read more of those.

A good series that is not often talked about I feel, but if the OP is looking for something in a modern setting it may not be what he's looking for. To put it this way, while most paranormal PI books have something like supernatural characters moving though an ordinary everyday world Garret PI is kind of the opposite. He's about as normal as a gumshoey detective can get, just that he lives in what is unquestionably a fantasy world with magic and elves and whatsit.


Also to voice my thoughts on the Dresdin Files. I would agree it's basically the easiest go-to example of this sort of thing and certainly not a bad one, but while I see a lot of people being wary of the first few books (which I never saw a problem with myself) I personal would more warn that the later books can get a little... 'eh'. A big part of the charm I felt in Dresdin Files was the scale of the mysteries. Yesh they often involved magic and werewolves and vampires, but they were still down to a scope that felt fun and digestible. The later books however start getting into "We have to stop this world ending/altering calamity!" every book it felt and I quickly lost interest in the series when that started going on.

[Dragonus45]

jokey.


On the subject of that I came across what has to be my favorite line of the year today. "On the internet, nobody knows you're an all powerful faerie monarch."

[lord_khaine]

If you'd like the slightly harder edged version of this, then Paul Cornell's Shadow Police series is also worth a look. If the Peter Grant books are The Bill, Shadow Police is The Sweeney.

Thanks for the suggestion, i will give it a try when im done with the last PG book.

[Bohandas]

It's a TV show and not a book, and a police detective and not a P.I. but the show Twin Peaks featured an FBI detective who, in addition to normal crime solving techniques, also occasionally made use of divination and received visions from spirits.

[BiblioRook]

While kind of different then what you are looking for I feel like the 'White Trash Zombie' series deserves mention. So, you know that tv show iZombie? It makes a big deal about being based on a comic of the same name but, eh, it isn't really. All that stuff about working in a morgue, helping police, and dealing with zombies (both malevolent and benevolent) trying to live in society in secret? All ripped unceremoniously from this series but doesn't get a word of acknowledgement.

[The Duskblade]

On the Dredsen Files thing, is the second book skip-able or should I push through? Storm front was fine but not much more then that so I'm a bit apprehensive.

Back on topic another option that might be worth a look is Brendan Sanderson's Wax and Wayne books (Starting with Alloy of Law). Not modern day but the technology of the world is far enough along to have electric lighting, trains, early cars and the like. Plus some interesting interactions with the settings magic system.

The downside is it's a sequel series to the excellent Mistborn books (which are more of a fantasy epic) and the protagonists of that series are legendary figures. So some level of spoilers is unavoidable.

The protagonists are Lawmen from the settings equivalent of the wild west returning to the capital. There are two main forms of magic, both based on metals. Allomancy, where metal is consumed to grant an effect (Pewter makes you stronger and faster, Steel lets you push metal away from you, Iron lets you pull it towards you and so on), Ferocemy uses the metal as a sort of battery, you can spend a week in bed storing health into a gold 'metalmind' and use that health to rapidly recover from a bullet wound. Misting's and Ferrings get one metal they can use each. Mistborn and Feruchemists get all metals but are no longer around after the Mistborn books. And Twinborn like the protagonists get one Allomantic and one ferochemic ability.

[Prime32]

On the Dredsen Files thing, is the second book skip-able or should I push through? Storm front was fine but not much more then that so I'm a bit apprehensive.The second book is on about the same level as Storm Front, but it has a lot of setup for later books.

[lord_khaine]

On the Dredsen Files thing, is the second book skip-able or should I push through? Storm front was fine but not much more then that so I'm a bit apprehensive.

I suggest skipping that one. It is one of his weaker books.

And i second any recomendation of Brandon Sandersons books on general principle. His Alloy of Law serie is really good. But i would suggest reading his Mistborn books first to avoid some huge spoilers to the serie that initially made him fameous.

[DoctorFaust]

I would also point out Skullduggery Pleasant, though it's a bit more YA Fic than some of the other suggestions here, but still a pretty good series. It's about an Irish Skeleton Magician Detective and his apprentice, and they fight crime.

[Eldan]

If you skip any Dresden book, skip the second. The third introduces all the important side characters, and is quite a bit better as a result. The second, I don't really remember anything important in. Well, a few side characters that become important later, but you can pick that up by reading a summary.

[digiman619]

On the Dredsen Files thing, is the second book skip-able or should I push through? Storm front was fine but not much more then that so I'm a bit apprehensive.
Yeah, I'll also suggest skipping book 2; you're not missing much and the sooner you get past it the better.

[Vogie]

Yeah, I'll also suggest skipping book 2; you're not missing much and the sooner you get past it the better.

You know, I always hated book two... but I thought it was the myriad of poorly-written werewolf stuff. I'm glad it's not just me.

[Gnoman]

Full Moon was written while Butcher was trying to get Storm Front published. Meanwhile, Storm Front was written on the advice of a creative writing professor as (essentially) a mental laxative to try curing a bad case of writer's block. While quite decent, Storm Front (originally titled Semiautomagic) was never intended for publication, and Full Moon was written before he got real feedback from editors instead of rejection slips. This shows in the writing, although I wouldn't advise skipping either, as there's enough recurring elements in both to cause problems.

[The Second]

Just finished Carrie Vaughn's Kitty series. While it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it was exactly what I wanted it to be... if that makes sense. A fun read.

Anywho, White Trash Zombie sounds pretty interesting. Think I'll give it a go, thanks.

[BiblioRook]

Anywho, White Trash Zombie sounds pretty interesting. Think I'll give it a go, thanks.

First book is "My Life as a White Trash Zombie" and the author is Diana Rowland, sorry for not mentioning that.

[Bohandas]

Has anybody said Problem Sleuth (http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4) yet?

[BiblioRook]

I would go out on a limb to say that Problem Sleuth probably is in the wrong ball-park of what the OP is looking for. If for no other reason it's not even a novel (it's barely a book).

[The Second]

First book is "My Life as a White Trash Zombie" and the author is Diana Rowland, sorry for not mentioning that.

NP, I figured it out. Unfortunately, me local library only carries it in e-book format. I prefer my good old fashioned, tree-unfriendly, river polluting paperbacks, thanks. :P I'll still give at least the first one a try though.

Also sad (not really) to say, but I don't watch the boob-toob. If something on the TV is worth watching, I'll wait until it's either online or released on DVD. Though now that you mention a show abt a brain-eatin zombie (& sex drugs and rock and roll, according to the cover blurb on My Life As A White Trash Zombie) I know to watch out for IZombie in the future. So thanks again :D.

Not to derail my own thread, but... now that you mention shows on the fringe, a friend was trying to describe a trailer for a show abt people mulching other people to use fuel for cars or some shiznit... anybody have any clue what that's about.?

[BiblioRook]

Also sad (not really) to say, but I don't watch the boob-toob. If something on the TV is worth watching, I'll wait until it's either online or released on DVD. Though now that you mention a show abt a brain-eatin zombie (& sex drugs and rock and roll, according to the cover blurb on My Life As A White Trash Zombie) I know to watch out for IZombie in the future. So thanks again :D.

Eh, that's probably one aspect the TV shw didn't take from the books the most. Actually kind of the opposite in fact, while the main character in the book was a complete mess who's life only starting changing for the better after she died and became a zombie, the main character of the TV show came from this perfect privileged life that she ended up having to abandon after she 'died' (and a lot of her characterization in the show is kinda her moping about that fact).

[tantric]

i can't recommend enough the "Detective Inspector Chen" books. set in Singapore Three, a part of the PRC, in the near future where magic is a fact of life. Detective Chen is the member of S-3's police assigned to supernatural affairs. in the first book he teams up with a demon from the chinese hell who works in Hell's Vice Enforcement squad. his wife is an escaped demon and they have a badger/teakettle familiar