Fallible Justice - Laura Laakso

Fallible Justice is the first book in the paranormal crime series Wilde Investigations. I do occasionally dip into paranormal as a genre but I've never come across paranormal crime so I was intrigued when I heard about this book.

Old London is a place where mystical races and humans co-exist, a place where shaman, paladins and mages are everyday words and where Yannia Wilde lives.

Yannia has escaped the claustrophobic life as part of the Wild Folk conclave where she was brought up and has set herself up as a private investigator but work is slow. When she is asked to prove a man's innocence before he is due to be executed for murder, the deadline is tight so she enlists the help of her best and only friend Karrion, a bird shaman.

The investigation takes the pair deep into another world, full of magic, mystery and intrigue and they encounter a whole host of interesting characters along the way.

I loved the characters in this book, they were such a breath of fresh air from the ones I normally encounter. Yannia with her ability to borrow the senses of nearby animals and Karrion and his love/hate relationship with pigeons which brought a clever touch of humour to this wonderful book. I do have to admit to having soft spots for the enigmatic Wishearth and Lady Bergamon though.

The world that Laura Laakso has created in Fallible Justice is one that leapt off the page and sucked me into it all at the same time and I now know what Alice must have felt like when she found herself in Wonderland. Her writing and descriptive style is exceptional and I couldn't bear to put this book down.

The plot was fast paced and full of the red herrings and twists and turns that you would expect to find in a crime novel, except that Laura has put her own highly original spin on it which makes for compelling reading.

For a debut novel, this is absolutely stunning and I'm so pleased that there will be more books in this series and I can't wait to re-visit Old London and hang out with these fantastic characters again.

If you think that paranormal is not your bag I can only urge you to think again and give this extraordinary book a try - I think you might be more than pleasantly surprised!

Fallible Justice was published on November 8th by Louise Walters Books and if you buy your copy via the publisher not only will your book be signed but you'll also receive postcards and a 'flash-fiction' hand written by Laura. These flash fictions feature characters in 'off stage' moments from the novel. You can see all the details here.

With kind thanks to Louise at Louise Walters Books for my review copy.