License to Ensorcell by Katharine Kerr (License to Ensorcell series: Book 1)

9/10

Psychic Agent Nola O'Grady isn't sure returning to San Francisco, and living near her unusual family, is a good idea. Her job, with a psychic agency so obscure even the CIA doesn't know it exists, can be perilous, and she's afraid of the relatives getting involved.

Then the Agency saddles her with Israeli secret agent Ari Nathan, and she has a bigger problem on her hands, because tact and compromise are not Ari's strong points. Their mission is to track down a serial killer obsessed with werewolves. He sees them everywhere and shoots whenever he thinks he has one in his sights. Ari assumes the man's psychotic, but in truth he's murdering actual werewolves. Nola should know. Her younger brother Pat, a lycanthrope, was the first victim.

Can Nola's psychic talents and Ari's skill with guns keep them alive long enough to unravel the greater mystery behind the killings? Can they save the werewolves and the world while stopping Nola's family from running headlong into danger?

In a complete break-away from her best-known epic fantasy, the Celtic inspired Deverry Cycle, Katharine Kerr has thrilled her diehard fans with the release of a new urban fantasy, License to Ensorcell.

Nola O’Grady, secret agent for harmony, investigator of paranormal activity and hopeless in love, is partnered Israeli Interpol agent, weapons expert and non-believer, Ari Nathan, in the hunt for a serial killer. Nola has always tried to keep her family out of her work, but they keep turning up at the wrong time in the wrong places... Will her Aunt’s premonition prove right and the killer come for her? Are the killings the working of agents of chaos? And could the disappearance of her younger brother make him a target too?

I was so excited to find this new release that I ordered it immediately and promptly finished it cover to cover less than 24 hours after it made it to my door.  I can’t say it had anywhere near the depth of her previous work and I can concede it has a bit of a ‘chick thing’ going for it, but for me, this was a fast-paced, gripping and immensely enjoyable read that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. It had it’s own unique flavour, was full of witty flirtatious banter and the right amount of mystery to keep me guessing. I can’t wait to get stuck into the next one (already on it’s way)!