This is the third book in the Nightside series, featuring John Taylor, who isn't just a "private eye," he has a "private eye", a mystical eye through which he can find just about anything "in the Nightside." The Nightside is a hidden magical area within London where it's always three in the morning and inhabited by every feature creature you can imagine including poltergeist sedan chairs and headless bikers. That's its strength--the phantasmagorical setting created by Green filled with offbeat characters.
I received an omnibus edition of the first three books as a gift from a friend. Had I gotten just the first volume, I might have stopped there. I thought that despite the intriguing setting the plot was too predictably noir and I was irritated by the clunky infodump. Things did pick up in the second book. With his character and setting established, it was more immersive, concentrating on story from the start. However, with this series, it was the third story that's the charm.
Maybe it's just that Taylor and the Nightside has grown on me, but I don't think so. This one just had so many memorable scenes. One in particular was a fun romp--a visit to the Night Times, the local newspaper. It sports a poltergeist copyboy, two ravens for fact-checkers, a typewriter haunted by their ghostwriter, a goblin drag queen doing the horoscope and Argus, a shifter, as their gossip columnist. The publisher and editor, Julien Advent, is worthy of a book of his own. Add characters such as Dead Boy and Rossignol, a nightclub singer with a voice to die for. What's not to love?
So, given Nightingale's Lament was quite good, I may take other walks on the Nightside someday and keep the omnibus volume on my shelf.
