PYROMANTIC

Giant snails, terrified kelpies, and supernatural knitting: this is life for the teenagers running supernatural law enforcement in small-town Maine.

Even though Ava, Lock, and Ezra destroyed their evil old boss who ran the Coterie like "something out of a supernatural Goodfellas" in Firebug (2014), the Coterie hasn't gone away. Somebody still needs to make sure that magical people are neither exploited nor exploiters; that's Ava's job. Working for her new, strangely benevolent boss—Alistair even pays her for her work!—Ava and her two best buds take on investigative work for the Boston-based Coterie. Though they're still recovering from the events at the climax of the previous book, they are formidable. Ava, white, is a firebug who burns through most of her clothing as a side effect of doing her job. Ezra is stunningly gorgeous, amber-eyed, tan-skinned, and russet-haired, half Japanese and half fox. Lock, a pale-skinned half dryad, is the object of Ava's confused, angst-ridden affections. Though they've escaped the criminality of their old life, their work for Alistair is still chock-full of gory, nasty violence, complete with zombies, rabid werewolves, and magical creatures gone feral. With the help of humans, were-hares, and an adorable Doctor Who fangirl, they fight a plague that threatens them all. Brief cameos feature the characters of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (2010).

Gruesome, snarky high jinks, with just the right amount of feels