Booklog 41/2019 - Diana Pharaoh Francis: The Witchkin Murders – Magicfall #1

[jacey]

This is set in a Portland (Oregon) beset by magic. The city is recovering from the witch war, but there's still a lot of suspicion and witchkin are not counted as people, even when they turn up murdered. Kayla was a cop and a damned good one, until Magicfall happened and she turned into something else entirely. Ray was her cop partner and he's spent the last four years unable to come to terms with the fact that she walked out on her job, and him. He doesn't know that she's a shapechanger, but then he's never told her what happened to him at Magicfall either. So they're both hiding secrets, and secret feelings. But this isn't one of those books where all problems could be solved if two people simply sat down and levelled with each other. When Kayla finds three witchkin bodies, she figures that the rutial murder might have consequences for the humans in the city, too, and so, after four silent years, she calls Ray. There's something magical and deeply dangerous going on, if only Ray and Kayla can join the dots between ritual murder of witchkind ands the kidnapping of two woimen from an extremely powerful and wealthy family.

I'm not much into police procedurals, so this didn't start well for me, but as the magic threat increased and the personal stakes grew I got drawn in. Is it plain fantasy or is it Urban Fantasy? You'll have to decide for yourself.