Plus, Julian Saint-Germain is totally hot. Plus, the way paranormal politics work, a vampire-werewolf feud could start a supernatural war. She doesn’t like dealing with vampires, but when a sexy female vampire prince approaches her with the problem of a werewolf dead outside her club, she needs the money and takes the case. Kate Kane is a hard-drinking paranormal investigator who has just lost her partner. This first book is, like a lot of urban fantasy, introducing the mythos and the cast of characters, which is normal for its type, but can be overwhelming if you’re unused to it. It takes a few swipes at Twilight, for example, but it’s all in good fun.

It’s rife with references to all sorts of mythologies and other books tangential to its genre.

Iron & Velvet is set in an alternate universe where normal people roam the streets alongside fairies, werewolves, vampires and various other folklorish creatures of the night. Plus there’s the magic angle, which in my book makes this much more fun than some boring old detective book with a grizzled old guy who gets it on with a hot client. Both characters are equally intermittently competent and figure out the mystery nearly a moment too late. While done up Sam Spade style, what Iron & Velvet most reminds me of is Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files with the romance dial turned up (and, of course, a female protagonist). The cast is large, the mystery quite plotty and the dry, noirish witticisms utterly hilarious. Iron & Velvet, the first book in the Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator series, is an f/f urban fantasy and a campy romp of a book.

Iron and velvet alexis hall