FOR A FEW DEMONS MORE

A spunky Cincinnati witch broadens her sexual interests and grows older and wiser in the ongoing battle against evil demons and rapacious elves.

Humans are bit players in Harrison’s not-far-distant-future world. It turns out that there was some truth in the old belief that tomatoes were poison. In a cataclysm called “the turn,” enough humans died from eating the ubiquitous fruit that the pixies, elves, vampires, witches, werewolves and demons who had always been lurking in the corners of the modern world, however outnumbered, now hold, if not the upper hand, a good balance of power. The conceit here is that the non-humans, taking the world as they find it, now get around in cars and buses, hold jobs and cope with a bureaucratic infrastructure as annoying as anything humans ever imposed on themselves. But they have their own conflicts, rivalries and passions in which they are heavily involved. Plunging the reader into action involving an uninvited demon making mysterious demands on Rachel Morgan, a good-hearted, wise-cracking witch who keeps the wolf from the door as a hard-working bounty hunter, Harrison introduces her huge cast of non-humans at a dizzying pace. Rachel’s lovely 1,000-year-old elfin neighbor from across the street pitches in to free Rachel from the demonic intruder, and the two gals have help from Rachel’s sort-of business partner Jenks, a pixy who lives with the wife and many, many kids in Rachel’s garden. When the dust clears after the demon is dealt with, it becomes evident that Rachel is going to be involved in the search for the murderer of a string of girls who have dated Rachel’s were-associate David Hue, a nice guy who is genuinely devastated to discover that his human girlfriends have been turning into werewolves. It all has to do with a talisman that David’s been keeping as a favor to Rachel.

Confusing, but weirdly charming.