Whisper in the Wind

Arnold continues to set the standard for urban fantasy in this stellar fourth mystery featuring PI Fetch Phillips (after One Foot in the Fade). Seven years after the cataclysmic event known as the Coda cut off the mystical creatures of Sunder City from access to magic, Fetch hopes to leave behind his work as an investigator. But a confluence of events, possibly linked, curtail his retirement. First, Corrupt Constable Bath is murdered and his colleague, Detective Simms, asks Fetch for help. Fetch passes on the case, only to be extorted into another inquiry; Isaac Derringer, the Sasquatch publisher of the Sunder Star, threatens to expose Fetch’s role in enabling the Coda, unless Fetch tracks down “Mister Whisper,” whose incendiary pamphlet promises to disclose hidden truths concealed by the city’s leaders. As the bodies and the intrigue ramp up, Arnold’s scrupulous worldbuilding impresses, with pedestrian details about, for example, the city’s water department making it easy to suspend disbelief. With a twisty plot, appealing lead, and Chandleresque atmospherics, this keeps the series going strong. (Apr.)