Rosemary and Rue – Seanan McGuire

October Daye is a changeling, with a human father and fae mother. She’s actually done fairly well for herself, becoming a knight in one of the courts local to San Francisco. Knights are generally pure bloods, so it’s a hard won honor.

At the very beginning of the book, she’s investigating the disappearance of her liege lord’s wife and daughter, and one of his enemies traps her as a fish in the pond of the Japanese Tea Garden, where she ends up for 14 years.

So the main part of the story begins with Toby still trying to pick up the pieces of her past life, when a fae friend is killed. Said friend manages to put a curse on her that makes it so she has to find the killer, and we get to go along for a tour of the various fae courts in San Francisco.

I really enjoyed this – it’s a fairly fresh look at those courts, and the changelings’ place in them should offer some interesting story lines. We do get to the killer at the end of this book, but it still feels very much like set up. There’s a lot more to explore in this world.