The Taken, by Vicki Pettersson

The amazing Vicki Pettersson, author of the New York Times bestselling Signs of the Zodiac urban fantasy series, has done it again. The Taken is the first of the Celestial Blues series, and it's every bit as clever and smart and stylish as Vicki herself.

Vicki knows Vegas inside and out. She was raised there, lives there still and even worked as a Folies Bergère showgirl for ten years before becoming a full-time author. She can world build like nobody's business and her characters are so real and engaging that they sometimes brought me to tears. (Don't tell anyone. It's embarrassing to cry over fictional characters.)

I suggest you stop what you're doing and go buy yourself a copy right now. I was lucky enough to read this puppy when it was still a wee beta baby and I loved it. It's Rockabilly meets film noir in Las Vegas. If you like the dynamic of Spencer and Hepburn, you'll love this book. It sizzles as it propels you on a dark and dizzying ride to the hereafter, then it bitch-slaps you right back to reality.

But in a good way.

From Vicki:

Griffin Shaw used to be a PI, but that was back when gumshoes hoofed the streets . . . and he was still alive. Fifty years later, he’s a celestial Centurion, assisting the recently, and violently, dead. Yet just because he’s an angel doesn’t mean he’s a saint. One small mistake has altered fate, and now he’s been dumped back onto to the mortal mudflat to collect another soul—Katherine “Kit” Craig, a journalist whose latest investigation is about to get her clipped.

Bucking heavenly orders, Grif refuses to let this sable-haired siren with hairpin curves come to harm. Besides, protecting her offers a chance to find the truth about his own mysterious death — and wreak some vengeance for the murder of his beloved wife, Evie.

Joining forces, Kit and Grif’s search for answers leads beyond the blinding lights of the Strip into the dark heart of an evil conspiracy. But a ruthless killer determined to destroy them isn’t Griffin’s biggest threat. His growing attraction to Kit could cost them both their lives, as well as the answer to the greatest mystery of his long afterlife …

 Read the first three chapters for free HERE  or go to Vicki's website to read more reviews and find a bookseller HERE