The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is a multi-racial constable-in-training in London. At the end of his two-year probationary training, he is about to be assigned a desk job, when he happens to meet a ghost who is a witness to a brutal murder. His ability to see the ghost brings him to the attention to the head of Detective Thomas Nightingale, who is part of a secret department in the London police charged with investigating supernatural phenomenon.  As Grant and Nightingale start investigating the murder, more brutal murders follow, and eventually they discover a disturbing pattern.  Peter is hastily accepted as a wizard apprentice to Nightingale, and his training is put in overdrive to try to get him up to speed to meet the new threat.  Not all police approve of the supernatural investigators "mucking around," but they eventually have to admit it will take something pretty magical to solve the huge problem that is threatening to bring London to its knees.

I have been looking for something fun and fresh to read.  I found it in this book which is like Percy Jackson crossed with Lockwood and Co. for adults. There is a lot of snappy patter and humorous pokes at London culture and folklore. Grant is a likeable chap and the magical characters they encounter are cleverly drawn. Full disclosure, this book is solidly PG-13, (or even R because of frequent use of the F word) with a lot of language and sexual references in the dialog. There isn't, however, on-screen sex, and most of the violence also happens off-screen. I am trying to decide why the content didn't bother me more than it did.  I think it is because it was all done in a sassy, sarcastic way. If language and sexual references bother you, though, this is definitely one to skip. (2011, 392p)

P.S.  I enjoyed this as I read it, but I realized a few days after I finished it that it left a bad taste in my mouth. It was like enjoying a rich dessert, but then getting a stomach ache from it. It is a bit too edgy for me after all.