Bride of the Rat God – Barbara Hambly

This was a fun read. Set in 1920’s Hollywood, Norah is a war widow, rescued from her life in England by her sister in law Christine, aka the famous actress Chrysanda Flammade. She’s mostly along to take care of the dogs and marvel at the life she’s managed to stumble into, when strange things start to happen after Christine is seen wearing an ancient Chinese necklace her boyfriend (incidentally her producer) bought for her.

This starts out as a pretty standard murder mystery, but ends up as a fantasy, when it turns out that the necklace summons up a demon otherwise know as the Rat God, and it’s going to come for Christine if they can’t stop it. Together with a Chinese shopkeeper/sorcerer and the cinematographer, they manage to confront the Rat God.

This is solidly fun – nothing revolutionary for the format, but great for a light read between weightier tomes.