Dead Witch Walking

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, 2004 Harper Voyager

      Rachel Morgan is a runner for Inderland Security--the I.S. for short--hunting down and arresting the bad guys. But when she decides to get out and start her own firm, the I.S. is not pleased. Rachel's vampire partner, Ivy, and pixy backup, Jenks, follow her and the trio become partners in Vampiric Charms. But in the midst of the changes, the I.S. puts out a contract for Rachel and the demon Algaliarept begins chasing her down.
   Rachel and Ivy move into an old church, renting it from Piscary, the city's master vampire. To thwart her death threat, Rachel moves to take down Trent Kalamack and his illegal Brimstone trade. Trent is a powerful inderlander, holding a seat on Cincinnati's city council but of indeterminate origins, and when he catches Rachel sneaking into his compound as a mink he captures her and forces her to fight in the underground rat fights.
     Before she ends up in the fights, Trent keeps Rachel in his office where she slowly starves herself (she doesn't want to eat poisons or something that will affect her magic) until Trent's new secretary feeds her carrots from her own lunch. Rachel learns about the inner workings of Trent's compound and discovers other, more unsavory business dealings than just illegal Brimstone.
     Rachel is even more determined to escape the rat fights and take Trent down. She discovers the reigning champion is another human-turned-rodent and together they arrange to escape. But even she realizes that she'll need stronger magic to complete the task. She considers black magic and the rat, a human named Nick, helps her get into the restricted books at the local university.
     Just as Rachel and Nick find a book that might be helpful Algaliarept appears to kill Rachel. Nick manages to command him to return both of them to the church where Jenks' wife Matalina and Keasley, the mysterious witch across the street, patch Rachel up. Ivy goes to the Federal Inderland Bureau (the F.I.B. is the human-run equivalent of the I.S.) trying to get Captain Edden to go after Trent.  Edden cannot touch Trent, but Rachel makes another foray into his compound and finds security that prevents Trent from killing her. Trent is unhappy that his attempts at damage control fail and continues trying to get Rachel under his control.
     Rachel Morgan has her own ideas about how the world should work; though she plays within the rules she gets results the "good guys" can't always get. Her tenacity and independence are remarkable, yet they are what also pushes her into the vat of trouble she inevitably finds. Rachel is a strong woman living in a difficult world and surviving. Mature readers will be able to understand more of the gray reasoning behind some of Rachel's exploits, and some content is more suitable for older readers
.