I've finally finished this tie-in collection of stories from the Rivers of London series, which is good as it's due back at the library today. It's likeable enough but a mixed bag generally; I think I prefer the novels, and I say that as a dedicated short story reader.

The strength of the Rivers series, for me, has always been the voice: Peter Grant is warm and funny and suspicious, and his characterisation is genuinely appealing. In the novels, that appeal is in service of (generally) well-developed plot. That's not so much the case here. Aaronovitch is not what I'd call a natural short story writer... his strength clearly lies in longer pieces. There's a tendency to an abrupt, awkward end, which is admittedly evident in only some of the stories here, and in others the plot, or points of the plot, are not that well-developed. Don't get me wrong: I did enjoy a lot of the work here, and it's a solid three stars out of five, but I probably won't pick it up again.