scans_daily

Previous part,
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/6466178.html

We return to the action with policeman and wizard Peter Grant waking up in the middle of the night to find one of the Russian gangsters who attempted to kidnap Beverley Brook cleaning her kitchen. Since her family has had a history of... err... mentally enslaving people who mean them harm (a skinhead bailiff went around her mum's house to repossess something, and is still there nearly ten years later doing odd jobs), as a policeman Peter is more than a touch concerned about this.

So basically he's now working for her out of a sense of religious devotion... which is one of the reasons it took Peter four or so books before deciding to actually get together with Bev.

Elsewhere, Peter and Varvara hang out in a cafe so he can sort out his case notes, and to draw out anyone who might be following them so they can work out who they are, and thusly where they might be stashing Nightingale. Unfortunately for Peter, Lesley is also one of the people spying on him, via a hacked feed provided by her new boss, the Faceless Man.

Peter considers who would benefit from telling the Russians that a fairy tale creatures had kidnapped their daughter, only to then demand a cash ransom after coercing them into kidnapping a police officer. He then decides to do something he admits is pretty stupid, and decides to go and just ask them why they didn't just ask for police assistance in the first place.

Peter supervises the drop, only for things to almost immediately go wrong when Lesley shows up in disguise, and after disabling the cops' equipment with magic, steals the ransom money. This isn't an ideal situation.

Meanwhile, the billionaire's wife, Ludmilla, goes to a cottage on the edge of their estate, where another twist in the tale awaits...

The next issue, the inquiry into what exactly happened procedes, with Peter admitting that it was his fault for not realising that the kidnappers would be capable of using magic. The billionaire's wife isn't happy that the ransom drop didn't go to plan, for reasons explained later.

Back at the Folly, Peter discovers some of Varvara's medals, which she recovered during her meeting with Lesley, and she explains how she got them, which in turn gives us a glimpse into the "Nightclub of Dr Moreau", an establishment owned by the original Faceless Man.

The head is a gangster called Larry the Lark, who the first Faceless Man decided to decapitate and magically animate his head to act as a greeter for his club. Larry's expression is because he's aware what's happened to him but isn't able to do anything about is until the spell keeping him alive wears off... Which it does... forty years later when the cops find out about this place and raid it.

Peter begins to put the plot together...

Essentially, Ludmilla faked her daughter's kidnapping so she could take some of her husband's money in the form of a ransom, and then abduct her daughter herself so she'd be able to move back to Russia without Nestor. Because just divorcing him wouldn't guarantee her money or custody, I guess.

He manages to persuade Varvara into calling in some favours from her contacts in Russian intelligence to save Nightingale (he knew that he could escape easily, but not knowing how long it'd take to get to the kidnapped family meant he had to stay put for their safety). The net begins to close quickly on the Russians and their criminal associates, as Ludmilla makes a last ditch attempt to get some cash out of her husband by means of a motive rant.

The case wraps up, with both the Nestor and Ludmilla getting arrested while their daughter is carried to safety. That and the arrival of the rescued Nightingale seem to put a neatbow on everything, except for the fact that if Ludmilla didn't get the ransom she had demanded from her husband, who has the money (Lesley does, but they don't know that).

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While the previous series was a good stand alone story in terms of how the world works, I kind of like this storyline more, both for its worldbuilding and for actually advancing the meta-plot over the novels themselves with its ties to Lesley and the Faceless Man.

The idea that the scheme isn't actually a magical one was a good twist, although it was a touch... confusing in places. Like, if Ludmilla was going to ransom her daughter in a conventional way anyway, why would she decide to get the Folly and Varvara involved by claiming her kid was taken by a fairy tale beastie?

The next storyline begins some time this month, to coincide with the new novel, the Hanging Tree, which looks to involve Bev's more politically aligned sister, Tyburn. Should be fun. ^^