Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy

The eagerly awaited return of Joanne Walker starts off with a bang in Murphy’s latest. Walker, who has started to embrace her shamanic powers, attends a dance performance with her boss Morrison. There’s a great deal of attendant sexual tension and, during the performance, Walker is so caught up in the magic of the performers that she transforms into a coyote. If that isn’t enough, in the middle of the performance, one of the dancers is magically attacked and killed. Walker begins the hunt for the killer, which leads her into situations she never expected–including accidentally transforming Morrison into a wolf and encountering a murderous werewolf. The adventure forces her to decide which path in life she wishes to fully embrace–cop or shaman. Readers will be thrilled to see Murphy’s return to the Walker Papers, and they won’t be disappointed. The author keeps the action fast-paced, Walker and Morrison’s repartee is fantastic (even when he’s a wolf), and the magic is exciting. If anything, it seems a little short, and readers will be left eager to see what happens next, both with Walker’s shamanic career and her ever-evolving relationship with Morrison.

Also see:

Urban Shaman (The Walker Papers, Book 1)

Thunderbird Falls (The Walker Papers, Book 2)

Coyote Dreams (The Walker Papers, Book 3)

Walking Dead (The Walker Papers, Book 4)

Demon Hunts (Walker Papers, Book 5)

Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine

This steampunk-flavored circus story begins with a disturbing undertone, like an out-of-tune calliope, and develops in hints and shadows. Touring a drained postwar world, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti rarely visits a city twice in anyone’s lifetime; borders are lax, and lives are short. The circus’s performers have no time for training, instead undergoing terrible trials in the ringmaster’s workshop to gain their skills. Enter the “government man,” who dreams of bringing back the order and security of the old world and wants the ringmaster to help him. She shares many of his dreams but mistrusts his offers of alliance. The drama and climax come not from the rivalry between the two but their similarities as they decide how to use their powers and who will suffer the consequences. Fans of grim fantasy will love this menacing and fascinating debut. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon’s world is populated by many different intelligent species (none of them human), and he has never known which one he belongs to. Orphaned at a young age, he’s wandered from tribe to tribe, hiding a dangerous secret. Like the universally hated Fell, whose only aims are slaughter and conquest, Moon can fly–which leads to predictably violent cases of mistaken identity. When he does find his own people, the Raksura, life doesn’t get any easier, since their internal politics are vicious, and they too are in imminent danger from the Fell. Cue hairsbreadth escapes and feats of derring-do, as Moon helps his new family evacuate their doomed colony and then rescues a group of kidnapped children. Wells (The Gate of Gods) merrily ignores genre conventions as she spins an exciting adventure around an alien hero who anyone can identify with. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

The House of Discarded Dreams by Ekaterina Sedia

When Vimbai rents a room in a ramshackle house on the dunes of a New Jersey beach, she hopes to escape a mother who embarrasses her. Instead, she finds a roommate with a strange ability to separate objects into their component parts, a psychic-energy baby living in the telephone wires, and the ghost of her Zimbabwean grandmother inhabiting her kitchen. One day, the house floats out to sea, and Vimbai must find a way to return home. Sedia (The Secret History of Moscow) crafts a tale of magical realism that explores the connections between culture and identity as well as the nature of reality and dreams. VERDICT Humor and metaphysics blend in an elegantly written story of a woman’s quest for her true home and should appeal to fans of James P. Blaylock and Jonathan Carroll. –Library Journal

Bad Bird: A Mystery by Chris Knopf

As sole witness to the crash of a Cessna in the Hamptons, lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski retrieves the camera case that pilot Eugenie Birkson tossed out of the plane just before it exploded. Wanting in on the investigation, Jackie offers to defend Eugenie’s husband during the accident investigation, but her real interest is in the pictures on Eugenie’s camera. As she puzzles over the images, she finds faces she recognizes and is led back to her own damaged past and to her long-lost brother. Tenacious in pursuit of answers, Jackie takes up residence in her office after being attacked in her home. This sequel to Short Squeeze: A Mystery (2010) continues the series spun-off from Knopf’s acclaimed Sam Acquillo novels. Jackie, a lawyer inclined to skirt the law, is persistent to the point of bullheadedness and sometimes too fearless for her own good. Readers may want to scream warnings to her in the suspenseful final pages of this fine hard-boiled crime novel, which effectively combines action and introspection. — Booklist