cover image Her Beautiful Monster: The Ravi PI Series

Her Beautiful Monster: The Ravi PI Series

Adi Tantimedh. Leopoldo, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5011-3060-1

Ravi Singh, who works for the London branch of Golden Sentinels Private Investigations and Security Agency, has the ability to see Indian gods—Ganesha, Kali, Shiva—a gift that he finds highly unsettling. His boss, however, believes that his visions actually make him a better operative, and Ravi uses them effectively in Tantimedh’s outstanding sequel to 2016’s Her Nightly Embrace. In the opening case, Ravi and his team seek economic justice for victims of a fraudster who created a fake company that claimed to have invented a revolutionary model of drone detector. Ravi and his colleagues, who use elaborate plots they consider “social engineering,” are next employed to thwart some evil British nobles with a history of marrying wealthy spouses who have a suspicious tendency to die of some sickness. Brilliantly combining an original and offbeat concept, extremely clever plotting, and fast pacing, Tantimedh offers every indication he can carry these strengths over into future volumes. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore and Co. (Dec.)