Aaronovitch, Ben. Midnight Riot

Peter Grant is a rookie cop working the streets in London when, while guarding a crime scene, he meets a most unusual witness: a ghost. The ghost describes the crime to Grant in detail and Grant is able to determine that no one but an actual witness would know those details. While waiting out another evening for the ghost to show back up, Grant meets Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale.  Nightingale, though few outside the upper echelons know it, is a wizard working in a special branch designated to investigate crimes of a supernatural order…and he needs an apprentice. Since Grant has already demonstrated a sensitivity to the other world, he’s given the job. Now the rookie cop is also a rookie wizard, bringing his modern scientific outlook into the work. A murderer is stalking the city, killing seemingly at random—but soon, Nightingale and Grant are able to discern the pattern. Meanwhile, Grant has to learn magic, mediate a feud between the warring genius loci of the rivers of London, and try not to make too much of a fool of himself in front of the various women in his life.

Fast-paced, clever, and original, “Midnight Riot” is a promising series start. Sure to be a hit with fans of Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” series!